By Shakir Husain
NEW DELHI, May 31 (NNN-Bernama) — A Pakistani state television anchor has been sacked for travelling to Israel as part of a trip organised by a foreign group that promotes pro-Israeli contacts in Muslim countries.
Pakistan’s Information and Broadcasting Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said the journalist made the trip in “his personal capacity,” according to Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV).
“The PTV anchor has been terminated and taken off air,” she said.
Pakistan does not recognise Israel and supports the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
The journalist was part of a delegation that included Pakistani-Americans.
The visit caused a row in Pakistan, prompting the government to clarify there was no change in its policy with regard to the Jewish state.
Among those criticising the trip, former prime minister Imran Khan raised the issue at a public rally and Jamaat-e-Islami’s parliament member Mushtaq Ahmad Khan demanded that the Pakistani citizenship of Pakistani-Americans should be revoked.
The visit was sponsored by an organisation called Sharaka, which claims to have been founded by “young leaders from Israel and the Gulf”, with offices in the Gulf Arab region and Israel.
It seeks to take advantage of the recent “Abraham Accords” to promote Israel’s recognition in the Islamic world, particularly in Arab countries.
Israeli president Isaac Herzog described meeting the Pakistani-American group as an “amazing experience.”
Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected “the notion of any delegation from Pakistan visiting Israel” and insisted that “there is no change whatsoever” in the country’s traditional policy on Palestine.
“The reported visit in question was organized by a foreign NGO which is not based in Pakistan,” the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
It said there is national consensus on the issue of Palestine.
“The establishment of an independent, viable and contiguous Palestinian State with pre-1967 borders and Al-Quds Al-Sharif (Jerusalem) as its capital, in accordance with the relevant UN and OIC resolutions, is imperative for just and lasting peace in the region,” the ministry said.
— NNN-BERNAMA
