Deputy Prime Minister (PM) and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has called on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), and the broader international community, to act decisively and uphold human dignity while ensuring accountability and justice for the people of Palestine.
Dar, who is currently accompanying PM Shehbaz Sharif for 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York, called Gaza a “graveyard for humanity and the global conscience” in his national statement at the UNSC meeting on the Middle East situation.
“Hospitals, schools and markets lie in ruins. The very fabric of society has been torn apart while over 64,000 lives have been lost and over 100,000 have been injured,” he said, adding that the time for words had passed and it was now the “time for action”.
FM Dar also said that the humanitarian situation in Gaza had reached catastrophic proportions as famine was now a reality, putting over half a million people at grave risk. “Dozens of Palestinians were killed a day, 300,000 people have been uprooted and nearly one million face imminent displacement.”
“The roar of fighter jets, the plumes of smoke from tank fire and the collapse of buildings… what must this relentless violence mean for women, children and the most vulnerable? And what of the hostages caught in the crossfire whose lives hang in the balance?” he asked.
Dar said that the “time for action is upon us”, and called for urgent and concrete measures, including immediate unconditional and permanent ceasefire, full unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza and the immediate lifting of the blockade to allow life-saving aid. He also called for a categorical end to any forced displacement of Palestinians from their lands.
The FM further reaffirmed Pakistan’s unwavering support for the Palestinian people in their just struggle for dignity, justice and self-determination through the establishment of a sovereign, independent and contiguous Palestinian state on pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds al Sharif as its capital.
He also welcomed the two-state solution conference shared by France and Saudi Arabia, and appreciated the recent recognitions of the state of Palestine by numerous member states.