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Pakistan alliance condemns Kasuri meeting with Israeli FM

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, Sept 2, IRNA
Pakistan-Palestine
Pakistan's religious groups have condemned Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri's meeting with his Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom in Turkey.

The foreign ministers Pakistan and Israel held their first public talks on Thursday, in the Turkish city of Istanbul despite a lack of official ties.

"We strongly condemn this unfortunate meeting Pakistani foreign minister has held with Zionist representative. We consider Israel as an illegitimate state as it has occupied al-Quds (Jerusalem), the third most holy site in Islam," Qazi Hussain Ahmed, President Mutahida Majlis-e Amal (MMA) said.

Qazi Hussain Ahmed told Geo television that Mr Kasuri's meeting with the Israeli foreign minister is contrary to the basic policy of Pakistan and Islamic teachings.

"Our foreign policy is based on respect to the sentiments of Muslim Ummah as well as to our sacred places," he said adding that the entire nation is opposed to such meeting.

"This meeting is against the aspirations of Pakistani nation and we will not step back from our principled stand against the unjustified occupation of Arab land and Al-Quds al-Sharif," the MMA leader said.

Qazi Hussain vowed to forcefully oppose Pakistani government move to recognize Israel, saying he will chalk out strategy after consulting other religious and political groups.

When asked as to why MMA opposes Pakistan-Israel contacts if there is no direct confrontation between the two countries, he said, all Muslims have direct conflict with Zionists as they have occupied Muslims land and ejected Muslims from their land and brought Jews there. "They are oppressors."
Asked that some other Islamic states have recognized Israel then why Islamic groups are opposing such move from Pakistan, Qazi Hussain described reorganization of Israel as wrong. "They have gone against the wishes of Muslims. Some agents of imperialists are ruling Islamic nations and that is why they have recognized Israel."
Pakistani foreign minister said after the meeting in Istanbul on Thursday his country had decided to "engage" diplomatically with Israel in recognition of its pullout from the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, the opposition Peoples Party in Pakistan has supported the meeting between Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri and the Israeli foreign minister in Ankara on Thursday.

"In the new world order, interfaith dialogue is the need f the time," opposition spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar said in a statement.

However Babar said that no unilateral decisions should be taken on issues which will have an impact both domestically and in the Muslim world.

"PPP is critical of the regime for not taking Parliament into confidence before this important development. On important foreign policy issues, solo flight and individual decisions in the realm of foreign policy must be avoided," the PPP spokesman said.

He said that institutional decisions are legitimate with staying power whereas individual ones are not.

"It is ironic that a regime which criticized Mohtarma Bhutto and PPP for meeting with a former Israeli Prime Minister at a Socialist International Conference is now seeking the good offices of Turkey to facilitate the meeting with the Foreign Minister of Israel." Babar said that the government should apologize to the PPP leader and to the PPP for its earlier criticism.

2020/235/2329/1432