Pak football team’s tour of Palestine stirs uproar
Muslim leaders see tour as back-channel diplomacy
The itinerary of Pakistani football team’s proposed tour of Palestine in a few months time has generated a controversy among Islamists and political leaders who fear the tour will be used as cover up for another back channel secret diplomacy between Islamabad and Tel Aviv.
The issue surfaced after the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) President Faisal Saleh Hayat announced that the footballers will also be visiting the al-Aqsa mosque in the occupied Jerusalem during the tour.
The announcement faced a strong response from the Muslim leaders and noted clerics who warned against visiting the al-Aqsa mosque or other territories under Israeli occupation.
Some said that seeking visa or permission from Tel Aviv for visiting the areas under its control would amount to acknowledging the state of Israel, an act they saw as forbidden under the Islamic Shariah law. They advised that footballers should confine their visit to the areas under Palestinian control only.
“Any visit to areas under illegal Zionist control will be a violation of Pakistan’s acknowledged policy on Israel,” said Liaqat Baloch secretary-general of Jamaat-e-Islami, demanding that the Foreign Ministry should take notice of such plans, which he said “clearly violated Pakistan’s foreign and domestic policies.” He warned that people of Pakistan have an emotional attachment to Palestine and would react strongly against such moves.
Maulana Abdul Rauf Farooqi, a noted Islamic scholar and secretary general of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), said seeking permissions or facilitations from stated enemies is forbidden in Islam, specially in the case of Israel.
PFF President Hayat announced that the Palestinian football team would visit Pakistan in February for a friendly match. The Pakistani team would then make a follow up visit to Palestine for another friendly match the following months.
Pakistan has never recognized Israel because of what it sees as the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands. Islamabad and Tel Aviv have never had diplomatic or any formal relations. However, Islamabad allegedly sponsored secret back-channel efforts to establish a form of secret diplomacy with Israel during the nine-year rule of General Pervez Musharraf.
General Musharraf once admitted his moves to establish secret diplomacy between Islamabad and Tel Aviv. He argued that Islamabad is not expected to cut ties with Israel when some Arab states have relations with it.
In a recent interview, Musharraf disclosed that during a UN general conference few years back he asked Turkish Prime Minister to mediate in facilitating a meeting between the Pakistani foreign minister and his Israeli counterpart.
Any visit to areas under illegal Zionist control will be a violation of Pakistan’s acknowledged policy on IsraelLiaqat Baloch secretary-general of Jamaat-e-Islami