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Pakistan, the only Islamic country with nuclear weapons, warned Israel to stop the war in Gaza, Palestine. Photo/REUTERS
ISLAMABAD – Pakistan, the only Islamic country in the world with nuclear weapons, has warned Israel to stop its war in Gaza, Palestine.
Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram told Newsweek that a ceasefire was necessary. He warned of potential regional instability if the already devastating conflict between Israel and Hamas worsens.
“This is an obligation handed down to all (UN) member countries to prevent conflict escalation,” said Akram.
“We hope that this conflict will not happen, but this conflict has happened, and now we have to stop it, stop the fighting and avoid the suffering that is happening and will probably happen if this conflict continues,” he explained, as reported on Sunday (29/10/2023 ).
Even though Pakistan, one of the world’s most populous countries and the only Muslim nation with nuclear weapons, is thousands of miles away from the front lines of the Gaza Strip, Akram identified a direct link between Pakistan and Palestine.
According to him, this connection becomes more apparent by drawing parallels between the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the India-Pakistan dispute over the divided Kashmir region, for which Pakistanis observe “Black Day” on Friday.
Local health officials in Hamas-controlled Gaza have counted more than 7,000 deaths from Israeli airstrikes since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, which killed more than 1,400 people.
Akram argued that it was not something to worry about. “This should be acceptable for any civilized country or society and we are against it, therefore we hope this will stop,” he said.
“There are additional obligations for us as an Islamic country,” he said.
“We feel we have an obligation, an emotional commitment to Palestine and the freedom of the Palestinian people,” Akram said.
“This is a principle to which we are politically committed because of Kashmir. We are deeply committed to those principles, and we want to see the triumph of the principle of self-determination.”