Pakistan supports sovereign Palestine state: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday said Pakistan will continue to steadfastly support the total withdrawal of Israel from the occupied Arab territories. We support the full realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people including the establishment of an independent State, with Al Quds Al Sharif as its capital. We demand that the illegal Israeli settlements and construction activities in the West Bank and atrocities and repression must come to an end, forthwith", Gilani said while speaking at a banquet he hosted in honour of President Mahmoud Abbas of Palestine here at the PM House. Besides the members of Palestinian delegation, the banquet was attended by a large number of federal ministers, parliamentarians, diplomats and senior officials. The Prime Minister said Pakistan will also continue to play its due role at the United Nations in supporting the legitimate demands of people under occupation including the people of Palestine. "To all Pakistanis and people striving for the right to self-determination the peaceful struggle of the Palestinian people is inspirational. We are confident that the Palestinian people will achieve full Statehood through their legitimate and peaceful struggle, he added. The Prime Minister said the Palestinian struggle for statehood and for the right to self determination finds resonance in Pakistan, adding, Our brothers in Kashmir face a similar occupation and are also struggling to realize their right to self-determination. He recalled that Pakistan hosted the 1974 OIC Summit under the direction of our Leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Shaheed. That Summit was aimed at developing collective wisdom on issues concerning the Muslim World particularly on the Palestine issue and to establish linkages with the international community to resolve them in the interest of peace, security and progress, world over, he added. Prime Minister Gilani said the 1974 Conference recognized President Yasser Arafat leadership role in promoting the just cause of the Palestinian people. President Arafat is not amongst us today, he said, adding, President Arafat was, as Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed had said, the symbol of Palestinian identity, nationhood and its struggle for a separate homeland for the Palestinian people.