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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Egypt on Saturday condemned Israeli airstrike targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar’s capital of Doha, the Pakistani foreign ministry said, with the two sides also discussing modalities for an upcoming Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Doha.

Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with the attack in Doha on Tuesday, a strike that risked derailing United States-backed efforts to broker a truce in Gaza and end the nearly two-year-old conflict.

The attack was widely condemned in the Middle East and beyond as an act that could escalate tensions in a region already on edge, while Pakistan on Friday pledged its support to Qatar for the defense of its sovereignty.

On Saturday, Pakistan’s foreign minister Ishaq Dar spoke with his Egyptian counterpart Dr. Badr Abdelatty about the recent developments in the Middle East as well as the OIC foreign ministers’ meeting in Doha.

“Both leaders strongly condemned the Israeli unprovoked illegal strikes on Doha, and discussed the modalities and details of the forthcoming OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in Doha, scheduled for Sunday, 14 September,” the Pakistani foreign office said after their conversation.

The development comes a day after the OIC, which is currently chaired by Turkiye, urged the UN Security Council to “take firm measures” against Israel following its airstrike in Doha.

Delivering a statement on behalf of the OIC, Turkiye’s UN envoy Ahmet Yildiz condemned “in the strongest terms this despicable and unwarranted attack against the State of Qatar and in flagrant violation of its territorial sovereignty and national security.”

“There is no doubt that this dastardly action constitutes a blatant violation of the norms of international law and certainly the Charter of the United Nations, much as it represents an overt threat to both the security of the Middle East region and indeed international peace and security,” Yildiz said.

On Saturday, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said an emergency Arab-Islamic Summit in Doha will discuss a draft resolution on Israel’s attack against the Gulf state, according to the Qatar News Agency (QNA).

“The summit will discuss a draft resolution on the Israeli attack on the State of Qatar, submitted by the preparatory meeting of Arab and Islamic foreign ministers, which will be held tomorrow Sunday,” foreign ministry spokesperson Majid bin Mohammed Al Ansari told QNA. 

Qatar has been a main mediator in long-running negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, and for a post-conflict plan for the territory.

Israel’s assault on Gaza since October 2023 has killed over 64,000 people, according to Palestinian health officials, while internally displacing almost all Gaza’s population, and setting off a starvation crisis. Multiple rights experts and scholars say Israel’s military assault on Gaza amounts to genocide.

KARACHI: On the walls of Maryam Ali’s studio in Karachi hang intricate sketches of the holy Ka’aba, a lion’s fierce expression, and jagged mountain peaks under a clear, blue sky. At 38, Ali has built a name for herself in the city’s art scene, with her drawings featured in exhibitions at leading galleries and the National Museum of Pakistan. 

Ali also lives with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a rare genetic condition that causes progressive vision loss, but her art continues to draw admiration from both peers and senior artists.

According to the US-based National Eye Institute, RP is a genetic disease that people are born with. Symptoms usually start in childhood, and most people eventually lose most of their sight.

Diagnosed with the disease when she was just two, Ali discovered her passion for art as a child. She studied at a mainstream school and completed her matriculation and intermediate qualifications before tying the knot. Her vision, which has been deteriorating since birth, worsened sharply after she turned 30.

However, that didn’t dim her passion for drawing and painting. Ali honed her artistic skills by becoming the first visually impaired student to complete a diploma from the prestigious Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in Karachi in 2022. Her husband’s support helped along the way.

“I call myself a unique artist because I suffer from a very rare eye disease,” Ali told Arab News. “It is an eye condition in which your cells die and you get difficulty in seeing things.

“So, you have night blindness in it, you have blurry vision, and you have tunnel vision,” Ali explained.

Ali said at night, she becomes “totally blind” and cannot even move without her family’s help. The visually impaired artist estimates she has only 30 percent of her vision left.

Hence unlike other artists, she cannot draw from imagination.

“In my case, I can only paint through pictures,” Ali explained. “Only those pictures which my eyes focus and they can draw it.”

She began her professional career in 2022, using pencils, charcoal, and acrylics to draw. Prolific sculptor Mansoor Zuberi saw her work at an exhibition in Oct. 2024 and has since helped Ali with shows and exhibitions.

Her drawings were featured in a recent Independence Day exhibition at the National Museum of Pakistan. Before her work garnered recognition, Ali said she never admired her craft.

“Because for me, whatever I’m painting, that’s my vision, what I’m seeing,” she said. “So, for me, it was very beautiful and to its fullest. But I valued my work more when the normal artists and senior artists appreciated my work.”

Shahid Rassam, a Pakistani Canadian painter who is the principal of the Arts Council Institute of Arts & Crafts in Karachi, is impressed with Ali’s talent. 

“When I saw Maryam’s work, I realized that not only is she a tremendous talent, but she has not allowed her disability to become a handicap,” Rassam told Arab News.

“She is fighting, and she has transformed all the catharsis within her into art, which is appreciable.”

‘NO COMPLETE CURE’

But even as she soldiers on with her passion, Ali is constantly on the lookout for medical treatment, knowing fully well RP isn’t curable.

“It’s treatable, not curable, and even that is extremely expensive,” she said. “So, I’m looking forward to exploring those, but only once I have enough funds.”

Dr. Haroon Tayyab, an ophthalmologist serving at the Aga Khan University, agreed that there is “no complete cure” for RP. However, he said certain treatments can help slow the disease or manage its effects in some people.

For example, Tayyab said gene therapy for specific mutations, retinal implants, and emerging stem cell or drug-based therapies.

“Beyond the physical limitations, RP also carries an emotional and psychological burden,” Dr. Tayyab noted. “Adjusting to changes in vision, maintaining independence, and coping with uncertainty about the future can be overwhelming at times.”

But RP doesn’t faze the visually impaired artist one bit.

“If I, as an impaired person, can work as well with my disease and come in front of the world and do whatever I have the talent in me, [if[ I can face the difficulties with ease,” she said.

“So why can’t other people do it?”