RAWALPINDI: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen­e­ral Syed Asim Munir here on Tuesday met Pales­tin­ian Ambassador Ahmad Jawad Rabei at General Headquarters and reaffirmed the support of Pakistan to Palestine.

“At this critical juncture, it is imperative that the international community mobilises to put an early end to unfolding hu­­man tragedy due to disproportionate and unlawful use of force by Israeli De­­fe­nce Forces and desist from encouraging them to continue perpetrating atro­­cities in manifest violation of all norms of civility and humane conduct,” he said.

The army chief also extended condolences on the loss of Palestinian lives in the ongoing war in Gaza and expressed grave concern over unabated violence and willful, indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians by the Israeli Defence Forces in the war, according to an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

“Incessant attacks on civilian population, scho­ols, universities, aid workers, hospitals and the for­ced exodus of Palestinians from Gaza are manifest crimes against humanity,” the army chief said.

He reiterated the call for immediate cessation of hostilities, opening of humanitarian corridor to Gaza, protection of civilians and adherence to the international humanita­rian law.

The COAS also reiterated Pakistans principled support for an independent, viable and contiguous state of Palestine established on the basis of pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.

Pakistan believes that the fresh spate of violence in Gaza is the result of unabated repression, continued human rights violations and state-sponsored sacrilege of Al Aqsa mosque. Conflating this war with terrorism would be naive; taking a narrow and self-serving view of the issue as an isolated attack, obscures brutal oppression spanning decades that has led to this outcome, Gen Munir remarked.

Published in Dawn, October 25th, 2023