PM Kakar warns of trans-regional spillover of Israel’s Gaza war

 

Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar has called for enhanced engagement with the Western capitals to make Israel realize that the Gaza war can trigger a spillover effect beyond the whole Middle East region, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Thursday.

In an interview with Arab News, Prime Minister Kakar said Western capitals, particularly Washington and London need to make realize the Israeli side that they are contributing to destabilizing the region.

The Pakistani prime minister called for an immediate cessation of violence and labeled Israel's assault on Gaza genocide, clearly.

Kakar said he will attend an extraordinary session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Sunday in Riyadh to discuss Israel’s attacks on Palestine. He said Israel cannot just kill children and say that it has got the right to defend itself.

The prime minister said it is the licence to barbaric retaliation. He said that all the Muslim nations should think over about its contribution in science and technology and defence. He also criticized governance structures in Muslim nations, saying their challenges are deeper than the mere quagmire of the Palestinian situation:

Kakar said Pakistan needs to engage with Western governments, particularly in the United States and Britain, to convince Israel the war in Gaza could have a “spillover effect” beyond the Middle East, but also called for introspection by Muslim countries. “We need to engage with different Western capitals, particularly Washington and London, and they need to make realize the Israeli side that they are contributing to destabilize not just the region, but probably it would have a spillover effect beyond the region,” Kakar added.

When asked if the Pakistan government had received any requests from the US to soften its stance against Israel as it continued attacks on Gaza, Kakar said: “I’m not aware of any such request and I don’t think so any government would listen to any such request which is in my opinion surreal, it’s absurd to even think of requesting someone to be silent on such an account.”

On his part, Kakar called for an immediate “cessation of violence” and labeled Israel’s assault on Gaza “genocide, clearly.”

When asked if Muslim nations were doing enough for Gaza, Kakar also raised questions about the role of the world’s estimated 1.8 billion Muslims, who make up 24 percent of the global population, in “facing the kind of situation which we are in.”

“We need to ask more deep questions from this entire 1.4 [1.8] billion [Muslim] population, that what kind of contribution globally we are having … toward science and technology, what kind of defense capabilities these different or 50 or 57 countries are developing for themselves.”

The Pakistani PM blamed “governance structures” in Muslim nations, saying their challenges were “more deeper than the mere quagmire of the Palestinian situation”:

“The choices which we are making or we are forced to make are not probably in the interest of the larger group of 1.4 [1.8] billion people, which we call Muslims,” he added.