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Pakistan's parliament was not informed of the radical change in foreign policy.
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Additional
Reporting By Umer Farooq, IOL Correspondent
ISLAMABAD,
September 2, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The public meeting between
Pakistani and Israeli foreign ministers in Turkey drew immediate
criticism among the ranks of Pakistani opposition parties and
religious groups and the Muslim country was gearing up for a
nationwide protest Friday, September 2.
The
main opposition group, the six religious parties grouping called MMA,
has dismissed the meeting as "against the national interests of
Pakistan" and dubbed it "a violation of the 50-year-old
position of not recognizing the Jewish state".
MMA
parliamentary leader Qazi Hussein Ahmed said in a statement that the
meeting violates one of the major foreign policy positions the Muslim
state has been adopting for ages.
The
move was also subject of criticism from non-religious parties but on a
different argument: Going ahead with the meeting without notifying or
taking the parliament into confidence.
Pakistan's
National Assembly (parliament) is in session these days.
According
to IOL correspondent in Islamabad, some political parties have
indicated that they would raise the issue of Israeli-Pakistani FMs
meeting in the Friday session of the National Assembly.
Analysts
believe a heated debate is expected to take place in the National
Assembly Friday.
Seeking
to soothe public fury over the move, Pakistan Foreign Secretary said
that the question of recognition of Israel is linked to an ongoing
debate and the government always takes parliament into confidence on
important foreign policy issues.
Pakistan
has said that the meeting is essentially "a gesture to Israel to
underscore the importance that Pakistan attaches to the end of Israeli
occupation of Gaza and to the Middle East peace process".
"The
meeting, however, does not imply recognition of Israel by
Pakistan," Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar said, during
in a hurriedly called press conference Thursday, while categorically
denying the possibility of formally recognizing Israel.
Black
Friday
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Pakistanis burn a US flag. (Reuters).
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The
powerful Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) alliance of six Islamic parties
that leads Pakistan's opposition, known as the United Action Front,
said the protests would be held throughout the country after Friday
prayers.
"We
will protest throughout the country and observe Friday as a black
day," said Syed Munawwar Hasan, the secretary general of the
Jamaat-i-Islami party.
He
said supporters of his party wearing black armbands and waving black
flags would confront Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri when he returns
home from Thursday's talks with Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom in
Istanbul.
"It
appears that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Kasuri take dictation
from Americans," Hasan said, adding that the government did not
consult parliament on the major shift in the country's foreign policy,
according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The
furor followed Thursday's meeting between Shalom and Kasuri met in
Istanbul that was the first-ever high level meeting between the Jewish
state and Pakistan, which does not recognize Israel.
But
it was not the first contact though.
According
to The Dawn, covert contacts between representatives of
the Jewish state and Pakistan had been going on for several months
through diplomatic and informal channels.
"However,
the decisive factor for the first open political contact between the
two countries was the Israeli pullout from Gaza last month which in
Pakistan is viewed as a positive move and has been welcomed by the
government."
The
Pakistani daily added Thursday that the Israeli government apparently
approached Pakistan several times in the last one year to make the
contacts public.
Malaysia
In
a related matter, mainly Muslim Malaysia said Friday it had no plans
to establish diplomatic ties with Israel despite the talks between
Pakistan and the Jewish state aimed at normalizing relations.
"It's
a bit too early for Malaysia to be talking about the possible
establishment of any diplomatic relationship," Foreign Minister
Syed Hamid Albar said when asked if Malaysia would change its stance.
Syed
Hamid said Malaysia, which chairs the 57-member Organization of the
Islamic Conference, continued to support the Palestinian push for a
separate state.
"The
principle that we have accepted, and it is accepted by the
international community, is the principle of two states, Israel and
Palestine, living side by side," he told reporters.
"This
vision of two states must be achieved before anybody takes the next
move."
