New York: Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar Wednesday urged the international community to deliver justice, freedom, and dignity to the long-suffering Palestinian people and to establish an independent Palestinian state.

He called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid.

In his address at the United Nations Security Council's open debate on the situation in the Middle East and the question of Palestine, held in New York under Pakistan's presidency of the Council, Dar emphasized that the time has come to grant Palestinians justice, freedom, dignity, and a state of their own, describing it as the path to lasting peace and stability in the region.

He stressed that the road to sustainable peace lies in respecting international law, ending the occupation, rejecting the use of force, and advancing peaceful solutions through dialogue and diplomacy.

He described Gaza as a graveyard for innocent lives and international law, and said the Palestinian issue represents a test of the United Nations' credibility.

The Pakistani minister warned that failure to take decisive action would encourage impunity and undermine the global order, urging the Security Council to act urgently and in unity.

He called for concrete steps including an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories, full implementation of Resolution 2735, continuous delivery of humanitarian aid to trapped civilians, an end to forced displacement and expansion of illegal settlements, particularly in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, implementation of Gaza reconstruction plans led by Arab countries and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and revival of a political process for a two-state solution in line with UN resolutions and international law.

He reaffirmed Pakistan's full support for the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state along the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, and welcomed the growing momentum for recognition of Palestine and its UN membership.

He described the upcoming international conference on the two-state solution, co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and France, as a key opportunity for diplomatic progress.

MENAFN24072025000063011010ID1109840501