PM Abbasi arrives in Turkey to attend OIC summit on Jerusalem
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Dec 16, 2017
The summit will be preceded by the Council of Foreign Ministers Meeting which will be attended by Khawaja Muhammad Asif.
Prime Minister Abbasi will convey the sentiments of the people and the Government of Pakistan of the unequivocal support to the people of Palestine. Together with the OIC and the Islamic world, the prime minister said, Pakistan had always demonstrated its solidarity with the Palestinian people and their legitimate aspirations.
Politically, this unified posture is bound to increase the diplomatic weight of the OIC in global politics because this was the first instance in recent years that the members unanimously rejected a clearly defined US position.
Seeking United Nation's intervention, PM Abbasi said, "Pakistan calls upon the UN Security Council to play its role as envisaged under the UN Charter". He said the world was a witness to a similar pattern of tragedy, both in scope and scale, adding that for seventy years, the people of Jammu and Kashmir had been subjected to illegal Indian occupation and blatant violation of their fundamental rights, including their right to self-determination. "Firstly how we come to this pass".
This moral high ground increased the effectiveness of the OIC's Istanbul summit even further and historic, unanimous decisions were made at a platform whose legitimacy was augmented by strong leadership participation at the highest level.
If the US stays as the only U.N. Security Council member vetoing the calls to recognize the legal status of al-Quds, then the issue might be carried to the General Assembly via the Uniting for Peace Resolution. We have seen protests and demonstrations against the decision, including in my own country.
The press secretary said President Hamid would take part in the summit at Istanbul Congress and Exhibition Centre (ICEC) at 11am on Wednesday to highlight Bangladesh's position on the issue.
The extraordinary summit, themed "Unified Action in Solidarity with Al-Quds" was convened at the request of Turkey President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his capacity as the Chair of the 13th Islamic Summit, following the announcement by the United States on Dec 6 to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
The President of the Republic, Field Marshal Omer al -Bashir, has reaffirmed the Sudan's rejection to the U.S. decision issued on the holy Al- Quds, demanding the Islamic states to take a more strong and unified stance against the decision and to support the Palestinian cause.
"The US administration should give up its role in the peace process, and if the US does not step back, it will be responsible for all the consequences", the declaration states.
