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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday strongly condemned recent Israeli airstrikes in Syria, calling them “unprovoked” and a “dangerous escalatory path,” as the country’s foreign minister chaired high-level UN Security Council meetings in New York under Pakistan’s ongoing presidency.

Tensions have escalated sharply between Syria and Israel this month after sectarian violence erupted in Syria’s Druze-majority region of Sweida, resulting in scores of deaths and prompting a fragile ceasefire. In response, Israel launched airstrikes it says were aimed at protecting the Druze community and demilitarizing southern Syria.

“Pakistan condemns in the strongest possible terms the Israeli attacks against the Syrian Arab Republic in contravention of international law and principles of the UN Charter,” the Foreign Office said in its weekly briefing. 

“These unprovoked attacks mark a dangerous escalatory path being pursued by Israel in the region with impunity,” the statement added. 

“Pakistan expresses its full support for the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity of Syria and calls on the international community to prevent Israel from its acts of aggression that continue to undermine the peace and stability in the entire region.”

Separately, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who is also Pakistan’s deputy prime minister, is currently on a visit to New York and Washington to represent Pakistan during its rotating presidency of the UN Security Council.

His engagements have included meetings with the UN Secretary-General, President of the General Assembly, and ministers from Austria, the UK, Thailand, ��������, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan.

Earlier this week, Dar presided over a Security Council debate on multilateralism and the peaceful settlement of disputes. 

In his remarks, he “highlighted selective application of international law as untenable from Gaza to Jammu and Kashmir” and called for respect for international agreements such as the Indus Water Treaty “to preserve peace and cooperation,” the foreign office briefing said. 

On the same day, the Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2788 under Pakistan’s presidency, urging “greater use of UN Chapter 6 tools, including negotiations, inquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, and resort to regional and sub-regional organizations, as well as good offices of the Secretary General, and calls for inclusive diplomacy.”

Dar also addressed the Security Council’s quarterly debate on the Middle East, where he condemned Israel’s continued military offensive in Gaza.

“Delivering Pakistan’s national statement, the DPM condemned systematic targeting of hospitals, schools, UN facilities, aid convoys, and refugee camps as deliberate acts of collective punishment and fragile violation of international humanitarian law,” the foreign office said.

Dar called the Palestinian issue “a litmus test for the credibility of the United Nations” and urged the Council to act for “immediate ceasefire, unimpeded aid access, end to occupation and forced displacement, renewed and reinforced international support for UNRWA, implementation of the Arab and OIC-led reconstruction plan for Gaza, and revival of the two-state solution.”

The Foreign Office also reiterated Pakistan’s longstanding position on Palestine, stating:

“We firmly believe that the only just solution to the Palestinian question is the creation of an independent, viable, sovereign, and contiguous Palestinian state along the pre-June 1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.”

KARACHI: A deputy chief of Pakistan’s spy agency met currency exchange firms this week to address a sharp slide in the rupee, prompting a security crackdown on “black market dollar trade,” the head of the country’s forex association told Reuters on Thursday.

The action helped stabilize the open market rate and the rupee recovered against the dollar by one rupee on Thursday, said Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan chairman Malik Muhammad Bostan.

“The dollar is down one rupee today in the open market. This is because we’re finally getting the supply we need,” Bostan said.

A spokesperson for the spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The ISI is led by Pakistan’s powerful military.

The action marks the second such intervention in two years after the military helped curb speculative currency trade in 2023