PM Imran Khan once again rules out normalization of relations with Israel

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday reiterated his stance on the Palestine dispute while meeting the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) spokespersons, saying his administration would not recognize Israel until there was a just settlement of the Palestinian issue.
According to the local media, Khan reminded the participants of the meeting that his government would follow the same policy that was established by the country’s founding father, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, soon after its independence.
He noted that there was no possibility of recognizing Israel until the people of Palestine were given their rights and allowed to decide their own political future.
The Pakistani prime minister recently told a local news channel that his government was under increasing pressure to extend diplomatic recognition to the Jewish state. However, he refused to name the international actors pleading Israel’s case.
Previously, the military administration of General (r) Pervez Musharraf indicated that it was willing to normalize relations with Israel, and his foreign minister, Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, held backchannel meetings with Israeli officials in Turkey.
More recently, there was some speculation that Pakistan was thinking of softening its stance on the Palestine dispute.
However, the country’s foreign ministry and other senior officials consistently denied such a possibility, saying they would only think about it once Palestinians got their right to self-determination.
“For a just, comprehensive and lasting peace, Pakistan has consistently supported a two-state solution in accordance with the relevant United Nations and Organization of Islamic Cooperation resolutions as well as international law,” the foreign office spokesperson, Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, told Arab News in September. “Pakistan wants pre-1967 borders and Al-Quds Al-Sharif as the capital of Palestine.”