Monitoring Desk
NEW DELHI: Palestinian Ambassador to India Adnan Abu Al Haija informed New Delhi on Saturday that the Palestinian National Authority had decided to recall its Ambassador to Pakistan Walid Abu Ali for sharing a stage with Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed.
“What he did was not acceptable to my government. Palestine has very close ties with India and has always supported India’s fight against terror. As a result [Ambassador Ali] has been recalled to Ramallah by the government,” Ambassador Haija told The Hindu.
India had earlier conveyed its protest on the matter to Al Haija, who met with Secre-tary, Economic Relations, Vi-jay Gokhale, at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Saturday. “Government of India has strongly conveyed to the Palestinian side that the Palestinian Ambassador in Pakistan’s association with ‘terrorist’ Hafiz Saeed, who is proscribed by the United Nations, at an event in Rawalpindi on 29.12.2017, is unacceptable,” a statement issued by the MEA after the meeting said, adding that India had taken up the matter in both New Delhi and Ramallah, and had “taken note” of the Pal-estinian diplomat’s assurances. “The Palestinian side has conveyed deep regrets over the incident and assured the government of India that they are taking serious cognizance of their envoy’s presence.”
