ISLAMABAD, 23 August 2006 — Pakistan and Jordan have strongly demanded the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon and urged the world community to support Beirut in regaining full control over the war-torn south.
This resolve emerged after a meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and visiting Jordanian King Abdallah.
The two leaders held one on one talks and later were joined by their aides. The leaders discussed the Middle East situation and condemned Israel’s brazen aggression.
Abdallah, who made a lightning visit to Pakistan for talks with President Musharraf on the situation in the Middle East, also called for a “comprehensive resolution” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“The recent crisis in Lebanon underscores the necessity of achieving a just, lasting and comprehensive resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” a press statement from the presidential palace quoted him as saying after the talks.
Abdallah said he hoped the international community would help the Lebanese government “in extending its sovereignty and its control over all of its borders by ensuring the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon and finding a comprehensive solution toward a permanent cease-fire,” the statement said.
The Jordanian monarch also called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, co-existing side-by-side with Israel, and urged the two sides to resume peace negotiations.
“We can no longer depend on a piecemeal or unilateral solution and must work in a determined and expeditious manner to restart negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis,” he said, according to the statement.
Musharraf urged the international community and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to extend generous help to both Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority for their rebuilding and rehabilitation efforts.
“Loss of a large number of innocent lives and massive destruction in Lebanon as a result of the flagrant Israeli offensive has caused us deep anguish and despair,” Musharraf added.
Abdallah was to visit Baku to meet Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev after his brief visit to Pakistan, Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency reported.
The visit follows Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri’s trip to Lebanon and Syria earlier this month on behalf of the 57-nation OIC. Pakistan, which does not recognize the Jewish state, says it would consider participation in a UN force in south Lebanon if its troops were “welcomed” by all parties to the conflict.
