Pakistan Reaffirms Support for Palestine as Ishaq Dar Joins Jordan’s Jerusalem Meeting

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar arrived in Amman, Jordan, to take part in a Ministerial Meeting on Jerusalem convened by the Hashemite Kingdom. He was received on arrival by Saja Almajali, Director of the Human Rights Directorate at Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, along with Pakistan’s Ambassador to Jordan, Major General (R) Khurram Sarfraz Khan, and embassy officials.

Dar’s schedule includes participation in the ministerial meeting itself, a call on King Abdullah II, and bilateral meetings with fellow foreign ministers to discuss the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory alongside regional and bilateral issues of mutual interest.

Jordan’s role convening this meeting reflects its longstanding position as custodian of Jerusalem’s Islamic and Christian holy sites under a historical arrangement administered through its Ministry of Awqaf — a role Jordan has repeatedly invoked amid recent tensions at Al-Aqsa Mosque, including a joint statement earlier this month from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Turkey, and Indonesia condemning Israeli actions at the site and reaffirming Jordan’s custodial authority.

Dar’s attendance continues Pakistan’s pattern of active engagement across multiple Middle East diplomatic tracks in recent weeks, spanning the broader US-Iran conflict, Gulf security concerns following Houthi threats against Saudi Arabia, and now this dedicated focus on Jerusalem’s status specifically. That breadth of engagement suggests Islamabad is positioning itself as a consistently visible voice across the region’s overlapping crises rather than concentrating diplomatic energy on any single flashpoint.

The Jerusalem-focused meeting arrives at a moment of heightened regional volatility, with the broader Middle East already strained by the ongoing US-Iran war, disrupted Gulf shipping routes, and continued documented violations of the Gaza ceasefire that have killed well over 1,100 Palestinians since October 2025 according to Gaza health officials. A dedicated ministerial gathering on Jerusalem specifically suggests participating nations view the city’s status as requiring distinct, focused diplomatic attention separate from the broader Gaza and regional security discussions consuming much of current Middle East diplomacy.

Bilateral meetings on the sidelines with other foreign ministers typically serve as opportunities to coordinate messaging ahead of any joint statements or declarations the ministerial meeting might produce, following a pattern similar to the multilateral Al-Aqsa statement issued earlier this month. Whether this Amman gathering produces a comparable joint declaration, or focuses primarily on coordination and consultation without a formal collective statement, will likely become clearer once the meeting concludes and any resulting communiqué is released.