By Shakir Husain
NEW DELHI, India: Pakistan has condemned Israel’s air attack on Qatar as a “brazen violation” of Qatar’s sovereignty and expressed its unflinching solidarity with the Qatari people amid growing concerns over the Zionist regime’s regional aggression.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday spoke with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani “to express Pakistan’s strongest condemnation of Israel’s heinous bombing in Doha”, according to a post on Shehbaz’s X social media page.
“Pakistan stands firmly with Qatar in this grave hour and calls for unity within the ‘ummah’ against such aggression,” he said.
The Pakistani Premier in another post said the Israeli attack “constitutes a most dangerous provocation that could imperil regional peace and stability”.
Several explosions were heard in Doha around 3:00 pm local time as Israel launched an unprecedented attack on a United States (US)-allied Arab state.
The attack targeted residential buildings in the high-profile West Bay Lagoon area housing several members of the Political Bureau of the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, resulting in at least six reported deaths, including a member of the Qatari security services.
The latest Israeli attack has caused global alarm, even as the Jewish entity carries on with its campaign of genocide and mass starvation in Gaza and its illegal settlement expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in a phone call with Sheikh Tamim, said the Israeli attack “aims to deepen the conflict, tension and instability in the region” and constitutes a flagrant violation of Qatar’s sovereignty.
“With this attack, Qatar, a mediator in the ceasefire talks, has now been added to the list of countries targeted by Israel in the region. This constitutes clear evidence of Israel’s expansionist policies and its adoption of terrorism as a state policy,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in a phone call with Sheikh Tamim, condemned the Israeli attack as “a criminal act and a flagrant violation of international law”.
He expressed Saudi’s “readiness to support Qatar and any measures it takes to protect its security and sovereignty”, according to a Saudi Foreign Ministry statement.
Iran called for Israel to be held accountable for its continuous atrocities and violations of international law.
“This terrorist assault, an overt act of aggression against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar, is yet another manifest indication of the dangerous and terrorist nature of a regime which, while simultaneously engaged in genocide and massacres in the Occupied Palestine, has expanded the scope of its aggressions to encompass the entire region,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.
India, meanwhile, expressed deep concern about the escalation of the situation.
“We have seen reports about the Israeli strikes in Doha earlier today. We are deeply concerned by this development and its impact on the security situation in the region,” the Indian External Affairs Ministry said in a carefully-worded statement.
“We strongly urge restraint and diplomacy, so that peace and security in the region are not endangered,” it added. – BERNAMA
