MAKKAH: During his three-day Saudi Arabia visit, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday met the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha in Makkah.
In his meeting, PM Shehbaz affirmed his government’s commitment to promoting the interests of the Muslim ummah as a cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy.
“Pakistan, as the current chair of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers, was looking forward to playing a proactive role with regard to the matters of interest and concern to the OIC member states,” the premier maintained.
Thanking the secretary-general for OIC’s consistent and unequivocal support of the Kashmir cause, he urged the organization to lead the diplomatic endeavors towards facilitating a peaceful and lasting solution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the United Nations Security Council Resolutions and aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
Prime Minister Shehbaz invited the OIC to launch a concerted effort to stop the ongoing Israeli aggression against Al-Aqsa Mosque and other occupied Palestinian territories. He stressed that Israel must not be allowed to divide the blessed mosque, temporally and spatially, between the people of a different faith.
The PM also underscored the need for the provision of urgent humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people.
He emphasized that the OIC should step up its efforts to counter growing Islamophobia at the international level.
The premier invited the secretary-general to pay a visit to Pakistan, to which he accepted the invitation.
Reiterating his felicitations to the PM on assuming office, secretary-general Hissein also highlighted the important role that Pakistan has always played in the OIC as a founding member.
He also reaffirmed the OIC’s support for a just and peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and expressed to resolve to work closely with Pakistan on key issues of concern to the Muslim ummah, especially Palestine, Afghanistan, and Islamophobia.
