FM Shah Mehmood Qureshi rules out recognition of Israel

­ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on floor of the National Assembly (NA) on Tuesday strongly rejected the statements attributed to him and the prime minister about the recognition of Israel.

He said Pakistan has a historic stance on the issue and supports a two-state solution with Al-Quds Al Sharif as the Capital of Palestinian state. “There is no question of recognition of Israel and no change in stance on accepting Al-Quds Al Sharif as capital of Palestine,” the Foreign Minister on floor of the National Assembly said, adding the same stance was also demonstrated by the PPP and PML-N governments.

The foreign minister was responding to a point of order raised by the PML-N parliamentary leader Khawaja Muhammad Asif asking the minister to clarify his two separate statements with regard to recognising Israel and India’s permanent membership of UN Security Council.

He said the foreign minister should clarify his two separate statements in which he said he talked about recognising Israel and said that heaven will not fall if India becomes permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Prior to speech of the Foreign Minister, a pandemonium was witnessed in the House when the Minister for Communication Murad Saeed rose in his respond to Khawaja Asif’s allegation.

Murad Saeed and the PML-N member Shaikh Rohail Asghar exchanged abusive language and harsh remarks forcing the deputy speaker Qasim Suri to suspend proceedings for 10 minutes.

Responding to allegations of Khawaja Asif, the foreign minister said Pakistan would not come under any pressure from Arab countries or whatsoever to recognise Israel. He said that a political committee is being constituted to formulate a joint way forward on critical issues of national interests including the outstanding Kashmir dispute.

The foreign minister said the PML-N, PPP, JUI-F and Awami National Party are invited to become part of this process. He said Pakistan has a unanimous stance on the Kashmir dispute, saying that they rejected India’s 5th August illegal steps in the Occupied Territory as these are contrary to UN Charter and International laws.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi also clarified that Pakistan is part of the group which opposes the permanent membership of India in the UN Security Council. He, however, said non-permanent seat in the Security Council is given on rotational basis and Pakistan also remained the world body's non-permanent member in the past.

The PML-N leader said some statements have been attributed to the prime minister, foreign minister and minister for Science and Technology. He said a statement of the foreign minister had also gone viral on social media in which he said that heaven would not fall if India becomes member of the UN Security Council while in a speech, he talked about relations with Israel.

Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri said Pakistan is the only country in the world which came into being on the basis of an ideology. He said that Pakistan has a clear stance that Israel is occupying Palestine and Israeli state would never be recognised.

A pandemonium was created in the House when Murad Saeed after taking the floor termed allegations of Khawaja Asif as false. As Khawaja Asif said they would not allow to continue proceedings in this way, the deputy speaker said nobody should issue threats and he knew how run the House.

Murad Saeed questioned as to who invited the Indian Prime Minister Modi at wedding ceremony of his granddaughter in Lahore. He recalled that Khawaja Asif himself was holding Iqama of a country when he was serving as the foreign minister and minister for Defence in the PML-N tenure. “His leader (Nawaz Sharif) also spares no time to Kashmiri leaders when he visited the India’s capital,” he said. Murad Saeed maintained that Kashmir dispute stands internationalised as a result of the efforts of Prime Minister Imran Khan. He said the way Imran Khan has pleaded the case of Kashmiris at the international level is unprecedented and pointed out that it was after a passage of fifty years that the UN Security Council held discussions on the Kashmir dispute twice a year.

He said the Prime Minister has also forcefully raised the issues of Muslim Ummah at the world forums while opposing India’s 5th August action. He pointed out that it was Imran Khan who fought cases of Islamophobia and the Khatam-e-Nabuwwat (SAW) at the international forums.

Khawaja Asif expressed his thanks to the foreign minister for clarifying his statements and stance of the government on Kashmir and Palestine. “The bitterness in the house could have been averted had foreign minister’s statement given earlier,” he said.