ISLAMABAD: Pakistan made a strong case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for ending Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
This was stated by Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch in a statement, saying that Pakistan presented its oral statement before the ICJ at The Hague on Friday in the context of the ongoing hearing on the “Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.”
She said that Pakistan’s inter-ministerial delegation to the hearing was headed by the caretaker Federal Minister for Law and Justice Ahmed Irfan Aslam.
Pakistan condemns Israel’s mly aggression in Gaza
Delivering the oral statement on behalf of Pakistan, Federal Minister for Law and Justice said that Israeli occupation continued to severely impede the exercise of the right to self-determination by the Palestinians.
“Through its illegal settlement policy, Israel is trying to create “irreversible facts on the ground;” perpetuate its illegal occupation; and deny access to the Holy places in Jerusalem. Israeli policies and practices amount to systematic racial discrimination and apartheid against the Palestinians. The ICJ would fail to discharge its judicial functions if it did not stop Israel from profiting “from its own continued grave wrongs,” the law minister said in the statement to the ICJ.
The oral hearing comes at a time when the Palestinians are facing a brutal onslaught from the Israeli occupation forces.
In this backdrop, the government and the people of Pakistan continue to express their unwavering solidarity with their Palestinian brothers and sisters at all international forums, including at the ICJ.
“Pakistan has been calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, provision of sufficient, sustained and unimpeded humanitarian assistance to the besieged people of Gaza, and the need for a just, comprehensive and durable solution through the establishment of a secure, viable, contiguous and sovereign State of Palestine based on the pre-June 1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital,” the statement further read.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024