Senator Raza Rabbani has demanded that President Dr Arif Alvi resign from his role after he made controversial remarks, which he later retracted, on the Palestine issue that deviated from Pakistan’s long-standing official position on the matter.

Addressing the Senate today, Rabbani said that Alvi’s statements calling for a “one-state solution” had never been Pakistan’s position on the issue.

He asked what steps the Foreign Office had taken in response to the president’s remarks, to which Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani said that the press release issued by the President House did not have any input from the foreign ministry.

Jilani said he did not know “in what context” the president had made the statement and reiterated that a “one-state solution” had never been Pakistan’s policy.

He went on to recall that the Foreign Office then issued a clarification on the matter, which he said was also sent to the secretariat of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.