New Delhi: Palestine’s envoy to Pakistan shared a stage with JuD chief and the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks Hafiz Saeed, to which India has reacted strongly.
“We have seen reports in this regard. We are taking up the matter strongly with the Palestinian Ambassador in New Delhi and with the Palestinian authorities,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in response to queries late Friday.
Palestine Ambassador to Pakistan Waleed Abu Ali on Friday shared the stage with Jamaat-ud-Dawa terror outfit chief at a gathering organised by Difa-e-Pakistan Council is an umbrella group of 40 religious and extremist groups in Pakistan, headed by the JuD chief, Hafiz Saeed.
Saeed is banned as a global terrorist by the UN and is accused as the mastermind of the 26/11 attacks. Saeed used the rally to call for an “Islamic summit” to defend Jerusalem from Israel.
According to a report in Pakistan’s The Nation daily, the Rawalpindi central leadership of Difa-e-Pakistan-Council has announced to launch a countrywide movement for the liberation of Kashmir and Palestine.
The report quoted Ali as saying that “with Pakistan’s tremendous support to Palestine cause, we do not feel alone”.
This comes after India voted with the rest of the world earlier in December in favour of an Arab resolution in the UN General Assembly rejecting US President Donald Trump’s decision recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
India, like 127 other countries voted on the principle that the status of Jerusalem would be decided after a deal between Israel and Palestine. India’s vote was seen to be against Israel, a close friend of India, as well as US, its close strategic partner.
The Modi government came under some criticism from its own supporters who thought India had let its friends down.
The Israeli government too registered its protest against the Indian vote.