Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar departed for Jordan on Tuesday to participate in a high-level ministerial meeting on Jerusalem, where foreign ministers from Arab League member states and a group of Islamic countries will discuss the worsening situation in occupied East Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories.
According to Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO), Dar’s participation reflects Pakistan’s longstanding and principled commitment to the Palestinian cause. During the meeting in Amman, he is expected to reaffirm Pakistan’s unwavering support for the Palestinian people and their right to an independent, sovereign, and contiguous State of Palestine based on the pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif (East Jerusalem) as its capital.
The one-day ministerial gathering was convened at the invitation of Jordan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Al Safadi. The participating foreign ministers will also meet His Majesty King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein of Jordan to discuss the evolving regional situation and efforts to safeguard Jerusalem’s religious and historical significance.
On the sidelines of the conference, Dar is expected to hold bilateral meetings with several foreign ministers to exchange views on regional developments, particularly the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the broader occupied Palestinian territories.
Jerusalem, especially the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, remains one of the most sensitive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The site, revered as Islam’s third-holiest shrine, is administered under a long-standing status quo that permits Jewish visitors but prohibits Jewish prayer within the compound. Palestinians and many Muslim-majority countries have expressed growing concern that this arrangement is being undermined by repeated visits and incursions by extremist Israeli settlers.
Pakistan has consistently condemned such actions, describing them as provocative and a violation of international law and the historical status of the holy sites. Alongside several Muslim nations, Islamabad has repeatedly called for preserving the legal and historical character of Jerusalem’s Islamic and Christian holy places.
The upcoming ministerial meeting is expected to produce a coordinated diplomatic position among participating countries in response to recent developments in Jerusalem. It also underscores Jordan’s central role as custodian of the Islamic and Christian holy sites in the city.
Pakistan’s participation reflects its broader foreign policy of supporting international efforts for a peaceful resolution of the Palestinian issue through dialogue, adherence to international law, and the implementation of relevant United Nations resolutions that recognize the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and statehood.
