ISLAMABAD: All Parties’ Conference (APC) declared that Pakistan would continue extending political, diplomatic, and humanitarian support to the brotherly people of Palestine and to support diplomatic efforts for bringing an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
According to a declaration adopted by the APC held at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Monday, the conference strongly condemned Israeli attacks against schools, hospitals, places of worship, shelters and refugee camps and its killing of aid workers and journalists in unprecedented numbers and termed it complete violation of international humanitarian law.
The APC expressed its unequivocal condemnation in the strongest possible terms of Israel’s genocidal campaign that has resulted in the loss of over 42,000 lives, mostly women and children, as well as, grievous injury to over 96,000 Palestinians, in addition to the widespread destruction and displacement of nearly the entire population of Gaza.
The political parties expressed their profound alarm at the impunity with which Israel is expanding the war theatre and threatening regional peace and security, and its continued violations of international law and the UN Charter, including its recent aggression against Lebanon, attacks in the West Bank, the assassinations of Hamas leader in Tehran, and the Secretary General of Hezbollah in Lebanon which constitutes a threat to regional peace and security.
The APC demanded an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and end to brutalities against the Palestinian people; lifting of the siege of Gaza; provision of unimpeded humanitarian, and medical aid; and to hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law, war crimes and acts of genocide.
The APC urged the international community to take urgent measures to prevent Israel from further undermining regional peace and stability, including the prevention of Israeli aggression against Lebanon and other regional countries.
According to the declaration of the APC, “the APC expresses full support for the ongoing political and diplomatic efforts by the OIC, the League of Arab States, the United Nations, and other brotherly countries in addressing the prevailing situation in Occupied Palestine, as well as for the peace and stability of the broader region.”
It called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to convene an Emergency Summit to discuss the situation in Palestine, Israel’s brutal aggression in the region and its implications for regional peace and security and underscores the need for unity of the Islamic Ummah. It called for full implementation of the UN General Assembly resolution ES-10/24 of 18 September 2024, which, inter alia, demanded an end to Israeli occupation; the provisional measures by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that call for preventing Israel from committing further acts of genocide against the Palestinian people; as well as ICJ’s Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024 that reaffirms the illegality of the Israeli occupation.
The APC recalls the Joint Communiqué of the Arab-Islamic summit of 11th of November 2023 that called for all countries to stop exporting weapons and ammunition to the Israeli occupation authorities; expresses its support to the role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees (UNRWA) in providing relief to the Palestinian people; affirms Pakistan’s determination to redouble its efforts for all possible political, diplomatic, moral and humanitarian support for the brotherly people of Palestine; appreciates the dispatch of 10 consignments of humanitarian aid from Pakistan for the people of Gaza, and medical relief assistance for the people of Lebanon; and urges continued humanitarian aid to the brotherly people of Palestine, including educational opportunities for Palestinian students and medical treatment of wounded Palestinian children in Pakistan, and declares unwavering support for the realization of the right to self-determination and other fundamental rights of the Palestinian people, as well as for the establishment of a viable, secure, contiguous, and sovereign State of Palestine, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital, as well as for the State of Palestine’s full UN membership.
The APC decides to observe, with special fervour, 29 November 2024 as a Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. It strongly reaffirmed the right of the people of Kashmir to self-determination and call for the settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir Dispute in accordance with the wishes of Kashmiri people and the relevant resolutions of UNSC.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024