NEW YORK: Pakistan has welcomed the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that ended violence in Gaza.
Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire across the Gaza Strip border on Friday, the Palestinian side and Egyptian state TV said.
Since the Israeli violence began on May 10, health officials in Gaza said 232 Palestinians, including 65 children, had been killed and more than 1,900 wounded in aerial bombardments.
The United Nations said its Middle East envoy, Tor Wennesland, was in Qatar on Thursday as part of truce efforts.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in a tweet, welcomed the ceasefire announcement and said that this is the power of collective action. He prayed that may this ceasefire be the first step towards peace in Palestine.
The foreign minister also met with UN Secretary General António Guterres at the UN headquarters in New York. During the meeting, the foreign minister expressed deep concern over the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories caused by Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, resulting in over 250 deaths including dozens of women and children.
Qureshi underscored that his visit to New York to attend the General Assembly session on Palestine was an expression of Pakistan’s firm and unwavering support to the legitimate cause of the Palestinian people for their right to self-determination.
Welcoming the recent ceasefire announcement, the UN chief expressed the hope that this could help revive efforts for a negotiated settlement of the Palestinian issue.
Foreign Minister Qureshi also briefed the UN secretary general on the serious human rights and humanitarian situation in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), including continued illegal incarceration of the Kashmiri political leaders and extra-judicial killings.
He said that the re-initiation of the 2003 ceasefire understanding between Pakistan and India along the Line of Control was a welcome step. “Pakistan desired normal relations with India. However, the onus was on India to take steps to create an enabling environment for a meaningful engagement,” he maintained.
Qureshi urged the UN chief to use his good offices to resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in line with the UN Charter and the relevant Security Council resolutions.
He highlighted Pakistan’s constructive efforts to facilitate the Afghan peace process and expressed the hope that the Afghan parties would seize the opportunity and reach an inclusive, politically-negotiated settlement, resulting in lasting peace and security in Afghanistan.
Expressing deep concern at the rising tide of intolerance, discrimination, violence and Islamophobia against Muslims, he urged the need for the relevant UN bodies to address this challenge, as well as take effective measures against the threat posed by violent nationalist, supremacist, far-right and extreme-right wing terrorist groups and ideologies.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Qureshi also held a meeting with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal Bin Farhan al Saud in New York.
