ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday highlighted its expectations of US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace (BoP) in Gaza, saying it joined the United Nations-backed body alongside other Muslim nations since it expected concrete steps toward a permanent ceasefire, reconstruction of Gaza and a lasting and just peace grounded in the Palestinian right to statehood.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the Gaza Board of Peace charter earlier this week along with other world leaders on the sidelines of the 56th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, told an open Security Council debate on the Middle East that the decision was driven by the need to address the “unresolved Palestinian question,” which he described as “the core of the instability” in the region.
“We hope that the BoP under the framework of resolution 2803 will lead to concrete steps toward the implementation of a permanent ceasefire, further scaling up of humanitarian aid, reconstruction of Gaza, and realization of the right to self-determination of the people of Palestine through a credible, time-bound political process, consistent with international legitimacy and relevant UN resolutions resulting in an independent, sovereign and contiguous state of Palestine based on pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital,” Ahmad said while addressing the council.
