Pakistan offers peacemaking role in ME conflict

Published January 9, 2020
RAWALPINDI: Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Seyyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini at a meeting held at GHQ on Wednesday.—PPI
RAWALPINDI: Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Seyyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini at a meeting held at GHQ on Wednesday.—PPI

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday asked Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Bajwa to send out a categorical message to all actors in the evolving Persian Gulf crisis that Pakistan would not become part of the conflict, but was ready to be a peacemaker.

The prime minister asked Mr Qureshi to visit Tehran, Riyadh and Washington with a message of neutrality in the US-Iran military confrontation and offer of mediation, while Gen Bajwa, who has been in touch with the American leaders since the start of the crisis, was tasked with telling the same to his international interlocutors.

“I have asked FM Qureshi to visit Iran, KSA & USA to meet with respective foreign ministers, Secretary of State; & COAS Gen Bajwa to contact relevant military leaders to convey a clear message: Pakistan is ready to play its role for peace but it can never again be part of any war,” Mr Khan tweeted as he spoke for the first time since the crisis kicked off with the assassination of senior Iranian commander Gen Qassem Soleimani in a US airstrike in Baghdad on Jan 3.

Mr Khan’s comments followed Iran’s retaliatory missile strikes against US bases in Iraq’s Anbar and Erbil regions.

PM asks foreign minister, army chief to send out message to all actors in evolving crisis; US defence secretary calls Bajwa to discuss situation

Gen Bajwa set about the assignment, meeting Chinese Ambassador Yao Jing and new Iranian envoy Seyyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini. He had spoken to US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper on Tuesday night.

Hours later, the prime minister’s initiative seemed to have lost a bit of its relevance when US President Donald Trump in his presser on Iran’s retaliatory strikes dialled down the rhetoric.

The prime minister in his conversation with Omani Minister for Endowment and Religious Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Abdullah Assalami expressed “deep concern” over the intensifying crisis and called upon the parties to the conflict to shun the escalatory path. “War is in nobody’s interest,” Mr Khan maintained. He urged “immediate steps” for de-escalation.

“Recalling that Pakistan had suffered greatly due to earlier regional conflicts, the prime minister made clear that Pakistan would not be part of any conflict in the region,” the PM Office said.

Mr Khan said Pakistan saw itself as “a partner for peace” and would continue to play its role in “seeking to defuse tensions, prevent a conflict, and preserve the peace”.

Pakistan had in October last year tried to mediate not only between Iran and Saudi Arabia, but also between Iran and the United States. The prime minister had then toured both Tehran and Riyadh, but without much success. Mr Khan had disclosed at a seminar in November that President Trump had asked him to facilitate dialogue with the Iranian leadership. Similarly, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman had initially encouraged him to mediate with the Iranians, but later backed out.

The prime minister recently claimed that his government had brought about a major shift in foreign policy under which a determined decision had been taken to not become a party to other’s conflicts.

Mr Khan had then said that the shift was one of the “main lessons” learnt from the foreign policy pursued during the past four decades. Pakistan, he had said, “would not align itself with any country where it has to fight someone’s war”. He had on that occasion also recalled that Pakistan suffered a lot because of its role in the CIA-led Afghan jihad in the 1980s and later as the “frontline state” in the war on terror. This, he had claimed, happened in the past due to a misperception that Pakistan would gain by assuming such roles, but as a matter of fact the country lost more.

Foreign Minister Qureshi, in a statement issued by the Foreign Office, said the US “action of Jan 3” and the subsequent retaliation by Iran heightened tensions in the region.

Mr Qureshi, whose recent statement in the Senate in which he equated Gen Soleimani with Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and ISIS chief Abu Baghdadi did not go well in Tehran, said he was already in touch with foreign ministers in the region and there was a consensus on working together for peace and stability.

“We are now intensifying those diplomatic efforts,” he added.

Esper, Bajwa discuss situation

US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper called Gen Bajwa to discuss the situation. The army chief had soon after Gen Soleimani’s assassination also received a call from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The defence secretary expressed that the US didn’t want to seek conflict, but would respond forcefully if necessary, the ISPR said.

“We would like situation to de-escalate & shall support all initiatives which bring peace in the region. We call upon all concerned to avoid rhetoric in favour of diplomatic engagement. We all have worked a lot to bring peace in the region by fighting against terrorism,” the COAS was quoted as having told Mr Esper.

“We will continue to play our constructive part towards success of Afghan reconciliation process so that it doesn’t get derailed and region goes towards conflict resolution instead of new conflicts,” he added.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2020

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