Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar is currently addressing a press conference in Islamabad, saying that he will be sharing details of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s meeting with US President Donald Trump in New York last week.
The meeting, where Trump discussed his place for ending the Israeli onslaught in Gaza, was held on the sidelines of United Nations General Assembly’s (UNGA) 80th session. In addition to PM Shehbaz, it brought together leaders from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Turkiye and Indonesia.
Dar began today’s press conference with outlining PM Shehbaz’s and his own engagements on the sidelines of the UNGA session.
He said the visit of Pakistan’s delegation to the US had two main purposes — one pertaining to activities at the UNGA and the other to work with some “like-minded countries” on trying to end the misery in Gaza as a “member of the Muslim ummah”.
“The prime minister was very clear [about it]. We had had consultations before leaving [for the US] as well. And eight countries, including Pakistan, agreed to take up this matter very proactively with President Trump during the US visit,” he said.
Dar said a preparatory meeting was held before Muslim leaders’ moot with Trump.
He added that the meeting with Trump was held with the objectives to try for a ceasefire in Gaza, make arrangements for sending humanitarian aid to the strip without any hurdles, stop the forced displacement of Palestinians and make arrangements for the return of those displaced from the Gaza, plan for Gaza’s reconstruction and stop Israel’s attempts to West Bank’s annexation.
“When these objectives were conveyed to him (Trump) and he was asked to work with us on achieving them,” Dar said, adding that the US president then proposed that his team would devise a “workable solution” with the foreign ministers of the eight Muslim countries that participated in the meeting.
More to follow
