Islamabad: Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs and officials have refuted claims of secret visit to Israel by senior government officials, affirming “no such visit to Israel has been undertaken.”
Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri termed the reports published in Israel’s Hayom newspaper as “baseless and misleading”, recalling that the Foreign Office (FO) had rebutted similar false reports in December 2020 as well. “There is no change in Pakistan’s principled position. Pakistan has consistently called for a two-state solution, with pre-1967 borders and Al Quds Sharif as the capital of Palestinian state,” he said.
The clarification was issued after Israel Hayom published a news report, quoting an unnamed source in Islamabad and alleging that former special assistant to the prime minister on overseas Pakistanis, Zulfikar Bukhari, travelled to Israel to meet former Mossad spy chief Yossi Cohen.
Rejecting the claims, Bukhari said: “[I] did not go to Israel. Funny bit is Pakistani paper says I went to Israel based on ‘Israeli news source’ and Israeli paper says I went to Israel based on a ‘Pakistani source’ — wonder who this imaginative Pakistani source is”, adding that “Apparently, I’m the only one who was kept out of the loop.”
This is the second time that Bukhari has rebuffed reports about travelling to Israel after dispelling similar reports last year. He also sent a legal notice to Middle East Monitor after which the news media retracted the article.
“The last time when the same propaganda was run, not only did Bukhari deny and sent a legal notice but the Middle East Monitor, which reported it, also had to apologise” said Arslan Khalid, prime minister’s focal person on digital media. He also asked the Pakistani media to “show a little maturity and not promote fake news”.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s National Security Adviser (NSA) Dr Moeed Yusuf also rejected similar allegations by an opposition leader and PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
Moeed Yusuf said in a tweet: “Very disappointed to be informed that the leader of a major political party has insinuated that I had secretly met Israeli officials. Let me state categorically and on record that I have not had any meetings with any Israeli officials nor have I visited Israel.” The NSA said that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s stance has been very clear on the issue that “Pakistan shall continue to stand for Palestinians’ right to a just two-state solution.”
There is no diplomatic relationship between Islamabad and Tel Aviv. Pakistan is among the countries that do not recognise Israel.
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