Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday that the 20-point Gaza peace plan released by US President Donald Trump was “not ours” but insisted that there was no room for politicking on the matter.

Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, Dar referred to his earlier press briefing in Islamabad and said: “I made it clear that the 20 points that President Trump made public are not ours. Changes were made to our draft. I have the record.”

However, he went on to say: “This is the end result, and there is no room for politicking.”

Eight Muslim and Arab countries — Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Egypt — had held a meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly session, where the US president discussed his plan for ending the Israeli onslaught in Gaza.

On Sept 29, US President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had met and, in a press conference after the meeting, announced the former’s 20-point plan for Gaza.

However, despite Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s initial welcoming of the plan, Dar had later made it clear in so many words that the plan for Gaza would not be acceptable if the am­e­ndments — jointly pro­posed by eight Muslim co­u­n­tries — were not included.

During his speech, Dar said that the eight Arab and Muslim countries had come together for a meeting on Gaza on the sidelines of the UNGA.

“During the meeting, there was no other agenda. Today I am telling you the details,” he said, adding that it was decided to keep the meetings “discreet”.

He further said that before the main meeting, a preparatory meeting of all the foreign ministers of the eight countries was held in New York, where the situation in Gaza was discussed.

He said that for his part, US President Trump took this positively and said his team would sit with the foreign ministers to find a “workable solution”. He said Trump also said that he was scheduled to meet Israeli PM Netanyahu soon, and to try and stop the bombardment of Gaza.

He said that Qatar’s embassy was the convener for these meetings, which were not released to the media. “President Trump’s committee also came and open talks were held on what they wanted […]. They gave us a 20-point proposal.”

Dar further said that the ministers took the proposal and decided to deliberate on it for the next 24 hours.

“Instead of making a completely new draft, we decided to remain within this framework and decided to either amend or delete points based on our wish list,” he said. “We held different meetings in the next 24 hours. We were exchanging hard copies in hotel rooms.”

He said that the final draft prepared by the eight countries, not just Pakistan, was then sent onward as a “counter draft”. He said that two hours after the Pakistani delegation left New York, he received a phone call where he was told that some countries wanted all eight foreign ministers to sign off on the document, while some were saying it was not necessary.

“This was a small thing in my eyes,” Dar said, adding that he asked the majority to make a decision in this regard. “By the time we landed at our next destination, I was told the American side had received the draft.”

He said that during Monday’s meeting between Trump and Netanyahu, a 20-point plan was announced. He said that he then spoke to the Saudi foreign minister, who said that the urgent points put forth by the eight countries were accepted but some things still required further engagement.

Quoting the Saudi minister, he said that at that point there were two choices: to continue and perhaps Israel will continue its bloodshed, or we let Trump’s plan be implemented and issue a joint statement.

“I said you are right, we should do this,” he said, adding that the statement was later finalised. Dar then proceeded to read out the joint statement issued on September 29.

He said that this was the only way to end Israel’s bombardment of Gaza when all other forums had failed. “Statements will not suffice. We need practical work,” he said, extending his thanks to the other countries involved.

During his speech, Dar also said that Pakistan’s policy on Palestine remained the same as that of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. “There has not been any change nor will there ever be,” he said, reiterating Pakistan’s unwavering demand for an independent and sovereign Palestinian state with Al Quds Al Sharif as its capital.

Gaza flotilla

Dar also talked about Israel’s interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), on board which was former Jamaat-i-Islami senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan.

He said that out of the 45 vessels part of the fleet, reports indicated that Israel had captured 22 and detained several activists. “According to our information, it is not confirmed yet, […] but according to our information, Khan is included in this,” he said.

Dar further said that Pakistan had involved a third European country that was “influential” for the ex-senator’s release. Without naming the country, he said that definitive information would be known by Sunday.

He asserted that he and the foreign ministry were working on retrieving the Pakistanis who were with the flotilla.