Photo courtesy PID
Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar Saturday demanded the global community hold Israel accountable for its ongoing humanitarian crimes in Gaza, proposing the exploration of initiating proceedings against Tel Aviv at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Addressing a Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit—convened to discuss the worsening situation in Gaza and evolve a unified future strategy—in Riyadh, he said the ICJ could prosecute Israel for war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Geneva Convention. “The U.N. secretary-general could be requested to establish a special commission of inquiry to investigate Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity since Oct. 7,” he said.
Kakar further said Muslim nations should demand the establishment of an international mechanism and call for a halt to illegal settlements by Israel. “We call for a political solution for which it is imperative that conditions are created for a dialogue between the Palestinians and Israel to evolve a way forward through the two-state solution,” he said, reaffirming Pakistan’s solidarity and support for the Palestinian people and for their right to self-determination.
Stressing that Gaza urgently needs a reprieve and an immediate and complete ceasefire, he said Israel must be forced to halt its indiscriminate aerial bombardments and ground invasions in compliance with international humanitarian and human rights laws. It should also, he said, ensure the immediate lifting of the blockade and ensure rapid and unhindered humanitarian aid supply for Palestinians.
The caretaker said a permanent solution to the conflict required the establishment of a secure, viable, contiguous, and sovereign state of Palestine on the basis of pre-June 1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital and urged the Muslim countries to work toward this end.
In a statement issued after the Arab-Islamic Summit, the participating nations called for an end to the war in Gaza and rejected justifying Israel’s actions against Palestinians as self-defense. It also condemned “Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, war crimes and barbaric and inhumane massacres by the occupation government.” It also demanded that the U.N. Security Council adopt “a decisive and binding resolution” to halt Israel’s “aggression” in Gaza.
The Arab League consists of 22 countries, including Syria, which was earlier this year accepted back after Arab leaders restarted talks with President Bashar al-Assad following a decade of civil war in the country. Dozens of leaders, including Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad attended the meeting.
Since it launched the ongoing bombardment of Gaza last month—after the Oct. 7 infiltration of Hamas militants into southern Israel—Tel Aviv has indiscriminately targeted schools, hospitals, mosques, churches, and even refugee camps, killing over 11,000 people, including more than 5,000 children.