US ‘pressure’ to recognise Israel: FO rejects reports quoting PM as ‘fabrication’

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Tuesday rejected reports as ‘fabrication’ quoting Prime Minister Imran Khan as having said that Pakistan was under the US ‘pressure’ to recognise Israel.

“Prime Minister had clearly articulated Pakistan’s position that unless a just settlement of the Palestine issue, satisfactory to the Palestinian people, was found, Pakistan could not recognise Israel,” Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said, while responding to the reports in certain section of the media claiming that the prime minister had stated that Pakistan was under the US pressure to recognise Israel.

The spokesperson said the prime minister had stressed that Pakistan’s policy in this regard was rooted in Quaid-i-Azam’s vision.

“The prime minister’s remarks are an unequivocal reaffirmation of Pakistan’s position on the subject, leaving no room for baseless speculation,” he asserted.

For a just, comprehensive and lasting peace, the spokesperson added that Pakistan will 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.

Earlier on Monday, media reports claimed that the prime minister had stated in an interview that Pakistan was under pressure from the US and other countries to normalise ties with Israel.

“Israel’s deep influence in the US is behind the pressure…This influence was in fact extraordinary during the Trump stint,” claimed the report published in a London-based online news outlet.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020