No pressure on Pakistan to recognize Israel: Foreign Office

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson responding to queries about reports in certain sections of the media claiming that the Prime Minister said Pakistan was under US “pressure” to recognize Israel rejected the reports as fabrication, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The Spokesperson said the Prime Minister had clearly articulated Pakistan’s position that unless a just settlement of the Palestine issue, satisfactory to the Palestinian people, was found, Pakistan could not recognize Israel.

The Prime Minister had stressed that Pakistan’s policy in this regard was rooted in Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s vision.

The Prime Minister’s remarks are an unequivocal reaffirmation of Pakistan’s position on the subject, leaving no room for baseless speculation, the Foreign Office Spokesperson said.

“For a just, comprehensive and lasting peace, Pakistan will continue to support a two-state solution in accordance with the relevant United Nations and Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) resolutions as well as international law, with pre-1967 borders and Al-Quds Al-Sharif as the capital of Palestine,” he added.

In September, the UAE and Bahrain signed a US-brokered normalisation agreement with Israel, and have been rapidly building ties since.

Sudan last month became the latest Arab or Islamic country to follow suit after heavy pressure from Abu Dhabi and Washington. 

Commenting on the policy of the US President-elect Joe Biden regarding issues of Palestine and Afghanistan, Imran Khan had earlier said: "Afghanistan is not the real issue. The real issue is Israel. It is to be seen how Biden deals with that. Whether he changes Trump's policies about Israel or continues with them."

Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, sent a thankful letter to Khan following his comments. "We highly appreciate your adherence to your positions in support of the Palestinian people to obtain their legitimate rights," Abbas wrote.