Pakistan firmly supports 2-state solution of Palestine issue, says President Alvi

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi on Thursday reiterated that his country firmly supports the “just and peaceful” resolution of the long-smoldering Palestine issue, based on the two-state solution.

Alvi expressed these views while talking to Imam Khatib at Masjid Al-Haram and Advisor at Saudi Royal Courts of Saudi Arabia, Saleh bin Abdullah Humaid, who called on him at his office along with Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan Nawaf bin Saeed Ahmad Al-Malkiy, said a statement from the President Office.

His remarks come on the heels of a controversy triggered by a statement issued from the President's Office after his telephonic conversation with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas on Nov. 10, in which he had reportedly suggested a one-state solution to the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.

“If the two-state solution was not acceptable to Israel, then the one-state solution was the only way where Jews, Muslims and (a) good percentage of Christians could live to exercise equal political rights,” the original statement had quoted Alvi as telling Abbas.

However, the Presidency later retracted the statement and issued a new one without mentioning the controversial proposal.

The controversy also echoed in the upper house of the Parliament – the Senate – earlier this week, when caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani had to explain Islamabad’s position.

Responding to a question from former Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani, the foreign minister said that the president had not sought input from the Foreign Ministry before issuing the press release.

The Foreign Ministry soon after the release of the president’s statement, had to issue a clarification, stating Pakistan’s official position on the Palestine issue.

Talking to Saudi guests, he further said that the world must realize the pain of the Palestinian people and play its role in ending the Israeli “atrocities in Gaza that had killed thousands of innocent people, including women and children.”

The meeting exchanged views on the situation in Gaza, Islamophobia, and other challenges being faced by the Islamic world.

Alvi also highlighted the issue of Islamophobia, particularly in India, and the “atrocities being committed by India” in Jammu and Kashmir.

Humaid, for his part, stated the Muslim world has adopted a unanimous stance on the Palestine issue that the Palestinians should be given their due rights based on the two-state solution.

He remarked that joint efforts by the Muslim world were needed to end the ongoing “violence and atrocities in Palestine” and extend humanitarian and diplomatic support.

Meanwhile, Pakistan army on Thursday also expressed "unequivocal" diplomatic, moral and political support to the people of Palestine and reiterated Pakistan's principled stance supporting the two-state solution, based on pre-1967 borders with Al Quds Al Sharif as the capital of Palestine.