ISLAMABAD : The Foreign Office (FO) has rejected media reports as fabrication regarding pressure on Pakistan to recognize Israel. In a statement on Tuesday, FO Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri rejected media reports that claimed Prime Minister Imran Khan said Pakistan is under “pressure” by the United States (US) to recognise Israel. Terming the media reports as ‘fabricated’, Chaudhri stated that the Prime Minister has clearly articulated Pakistan’s position that unless a just settlement of the Palestine issue, satisfactory to the Palestinian people, is found, Pakistan cannot recognise Israel.
“The Prime Minister has stressed that Pakistan’s policy in this regard was rooted in Quaid-e-Azam’s vision,” the communiqué added. The Prime Minister’s remarks are an unequivocal reaffirmation of Pakistan’s position on the subject, leaving no room for baseless speculation, the spokesperson maintained. “For a just, comprehensive and lasting peace,” the spokesperson said, “Pakistan would continue to support a two-state solution in accordance with the relevant United Nations and OIC resolutions as well as international law, with pre-1967 borders and Al-Quds Al-Sharif as the capital of Palestine”. On November 13, it was reported that Prime Minister Imran Khan had revealed that he had been “under pressure” to recognise Israel, however, Islamabad will never establish relations with the “Zionist” state until a just settlement of the decades-long Palestinian issue. In an interview with a private television channel, the PM had refused to name the countries that have been pressuring him to recognise Israel. TLTP
