Qaiser seeks PM’s apology for ‘hurting public sentiment over Palestine issue’

ISLAMABAD: Former National Assembly speaker and senior Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Qaiser demanded that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif apologise to the nation “for hurting public sentiments on the issue of Palestine”.

Addressing the lower house on Friday, the PTI leader said “no decision would be acceptable until the will of the Palestinian people was made part of the process”.

Earlier today, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said that the 20-point Gaza peace plan released by US President Donald Trump was “not ours” but insisted that there was no room for politicking on the matter.

Qaiser criticised the government for failing to take the parliament into confidence on key national decisions. Referring to the ‘peace plan’ presented by Trump, Qaiser claimed no Muslim leader had endorsed the agreement, yet Shehbaz “in a display of sycophancy” acknowledged an incomplete agreement through social media.

“If the deal was so good, why did the Palestinians reject it,“ asked the PTI leader and added that the premier had played with the “emotions of the Pakistani people”. He further stated that the people of Pakistan would never accept the recognition of Israel. “Any peace accord is incomplete without the recognition of an independent Palestinian state, with Al-Quds (Jerusalem) as its capital,” he asserted. Qaiser also demanded immediate diplomatic efforts for the release of Pakistanis detained on the Flotilla. Referring to the foreign minister’s clarification on the Shama Junejo controversy raised more questions and the responsibility lay with the premier as she was the “prime minister’s speech writer”. Staff Report