ISLAMABAD: Pakis­tan, along with 13 other countries, on Sunday condemned what it described as the “illegal and unacceptable” move by the so-called Somaliland to open a “purported” embassy in occupied Jerusalem, calling it a violation of the city’s legal and historical status, according to the Foreign Office.

Somaliland is a breakaway region of Somalia.

In December 2025, Israel became the first country to formally recognise the self-declared Republic of Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state. Somalia rejected this move and termed a “deliberate attack” on its sovereignty.

On May 19, it was announced that Somaliland would set up an embassy in Jerusalem soon.

Subsequently, the foreign ministries of Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkiye, Indonesia, Djibouti, Somalia, Palestine, Oman, Sudan, and Yemen condemned “the illegal and unacceptable step taken by the so-called ‘Somaliland’ region in opening a purported ‘embassy’ in occupied Jerusalem”.

“This constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and relevant international resolutions, and represents a direct infringement on the legal and historical status of occupied Jerusalem,” they said in a joint statement.

As per the statement, the ministers categorically rejected “unilateral measures aimed at enriching an illegal reality in occupied Jerusalem or conferring legitimacy on any entities or arrangements that contravene international law and relevant United Nations resolutions”.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2026