ISLAMABAD, Sept 9: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz briefed on Friday his Malaysian counterpart on Pakistan’s first ‘open’ diplomatic contact with Israel last week. “Mr Aziz in a telephone conversation with Dato Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi briefed him on the meeting between the foreign ministers of Pakistan and Israel in Istanbul on Sept 1,” a Foreign Office statement said.

Mr Badawi, who is also the OIC chairman, is the seventh Muslim leader with whom the Mr Aziz had established contact since Pakistan went public on its engagement with Israel.

While sharing details of the contact in Istanbul, the prime minister assured the Malaysian leader that there had been no change in Pakistan’s principled stance on the Palestinian issue which called for the establishment of a Palestinian state with Al Quds as its capital and which fully acceded with the OIC position, the statement said.

The prime minister underscored that the initiative taken after Israel had vacated Gaza was only meant to encourage Tel Aviv to resolve the Middle East problem.

The two leaders also discussed ways and means to strengthen OIC, the statement said, adding that both agreed that restructuring of the OIC was essential to promote the causes of the Muslim world.