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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan condemns Israel’s attempt to annex parts of the West Bank as a “deplorable act” and a grave violation of international law, the Pakistani foreign office said on Friday, adding the move underscores Israel’s disregard for Palestinian rights.

Israel’s parliament this month passed a non-binding resolution that urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu-led government to extend sovereignty over the West Bank, including the Jordan Valley.

The motion, though symbolic and without legal force, reflects mounting political pressure from Israeli right-wing lawmakers to formalize annexation, a move that has drawn sharp international criticism.

“Pakistan unequivocally condemns the Israeli parliament’s unlawful attempt to assert ‘sovereignty’ over the occupied West Bank,” the Pakistani foreign office said in a statement.

“Such deliberate and provocative actions highlight the occupying power’s systematic attempts to undermine efforts for peace and entrench its illegal occupation.”

The development comes amid Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza that has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians since Oct. 2023, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Pakistan maintains that the only viable remedy to the Palestine dispute is the realization of the two-state solution, which includes the establishment of Palestine as a viable, secure and contiguous state on the basis of pre-1967 borders.

The South Asian country is also using its presidency of the UN Security Council this month to help refocus global attention on the crisis in Gaza and the wider Israeli Palestinian conflict.

“These unilateral measures represent a dangerous escalation that jeopardizes regional stability and prospects for a just and lasting settlement,” the Pakistani foreign office said.

“Pakistan calls upon the international community to take swift and decisive action to hold Israel accountable for its violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions and international humanitarian law. These measures will neither be recognized nor alter the internationally acknowledged status of the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
 

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday met with Dr. Fauzia Siddiqui, the sister of Pakistani neuroscientist Dr. Aafia Siddiqui who is jailed in the US, and reaffirmed his government’s commitment to providing all possible legal and diplomatic support in the high-profile case, the PM’s Office said.

Siddiqui, a Pakistani national, is currently serving an 86-year prison sentence in the United States after being convicted in 2010 of attempted murder of US personnel in Afghanistan. Her trial and detention have long sparked public outcry in Pakistan, with successive governments under pressure to secure her repatriation.

“The government is in no way negligent in the matter of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui,” Sharif was quoted as saying in a statement issued by his office after he met Fauzia and assured her that his administration would “continue to provide every possible legal and diplomatic assistance” in her sister’s case.

The Prime Minister’s Office said Sharif had earlier written a letter to then-US President Joe Biden to urge action in the matter. He has now also formed a special committee, chaired by Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, to pursue further progress on the case.

“The committee will remain in contact with Dr. Fauzia Siddiqui and work to provide any necessary support,” the statement said.

In October 2024, Sharif wrote a letter to Biden calling for Siddiqui’s release and highlighting concerns about her treatment in prison. He also warned that her deteriorating physical and mental health could lead to self-harm.

This January, as he stepped down as US president, Biden rejected a petition seeking clemency for the jailed academic.

Siddiqui was arrested in July 2008 by Afghan police who said she was carrying two pounds (900 grams) of sodium cyanide and crumpled notes referring to mass casualty attacks and New York landmarks.

The day after her arrest, according to the indictment, Siddiqui grabbed an M-4 rifle in her interrogation room and started shooting while yelling “death to America,” the trial jury heard. No US agents or soldiers were hit, but Siddiqui was shot and wounded in response, according to US prosecutors. 

She was subsequently convicted in 2010 by a New York federal jury of attempted murder, armed assault and other charges. Siddiqui was never charged with links to terrorism.

Siddiqui’s family says she was visiting Pakistan in 2003 when she was abducted with her three children by Pakistani intelligence officials and handed to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which took her to Afghanistan. Pakistan’s intelligence agencies deny the claims.