Dar urges collective response to Al-Aqsa violations at UN

Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday called for a collective and sustained international response to continuing violations at Al-Aqsa Mosque and attempts to change the historical and legal status of occupied East Jerusalem. He was speaking at a joint ministerial meeting of the Arab League and four Islamic countries (Pakistan, Türkiye, Malaysia and Indonesia) held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The issue, he said, concerned the protection of Jerusalem's holy sites and their established arrangements.

Dar said the situation in Jerusalem remained worrying and required constant vigilance and a coordinated response, according to a statement from the Foreign Office. The meeting was convened by Jordan as a follow-up to a ministerial session on Jerusalem held in Amman on August 5, in which Pakistan had also taken part to coordinate positions on developments in occupied Jerusalem.

The deputy prime minister said there should be no ambiguity over the status of occupied East Jerusalem. He reaffirmed Pakistan's backing for Jordan's Hashemite custodianship of Islamic and Christian holy sites and for the authority of the Jerusalem Endowments and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Department over Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif.

Dar urged countries to protect the historical and legal status quo in Jerusalem and its holy sites, and to reject unilateral measures aimed at changing the city's character, identity or status. He asked the international community to keep developments in Jerusalem under sustained attention and to respond in a timely way to any violation of the established arrangements. Such developments, he said, required a prompt and coordinated response from concerned countries.

He reiterated Pakistan's support for the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and for the creation of an independent, sovereign and contiguous Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.

Separately, Dar met Jordan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in New York. The two discussed regional developments and matters of mutual interest and reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening Pakistan-Jordan relations.