ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister and Fore­ign Minister Ishaq Dar will attend an extraordinary meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Coun­cil of Foreign Ministers, scheduled for Saturday, in Saudi Arabia.

The meeting will discuss the implications of Israel’s recognition of Somaliland.

“The session will addr­ess the implications of Israel’s recognition of the so-called Somaliland reg­ion of the Federal Repu­blic of Somalia,” read a statement issued by the Foreign Office (FO) on Friday.

The FO said the deputy prime minister would share Pakistan’s position on the issue of Somaliland.

On the sidelines of the OIC foreign ministers’ session, Mr Dar will hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from other member states to discuss further cooperation on regional and international issues, the statement added.

Israel has recently recognised Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state, with Soma­liland’s president, Abdira­hman Mohamed Abdul­lahi, saying his state will join the Abraham Accords. Later, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar visited Somaliland, condemned by Somalia as an “unauthorised incursion”.

In a joint statement, Pakistan and a wide selection of Muslim countries on Thursday condemned the visit by the Israeli diplomat to Somaliland. The joint statement was issued on behalf of the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Gambia, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Maldives, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Turkiye and Yemen, as well as the OIC.

Pakistan also joined 20 other nations and the OIC last month in rejecting Isr­a­el’s recognition of the self-declared Republic of Som­a­liland.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2026