ISLAMABAD: Pak­is­tan will attend a meeting of the foreign ministers of eight countries in Turkiye next week, to discuss the next steps in the Gaza peace plan.

“Turkish Foreign Mini­ster Hakan Fidan invited the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar to Turkiye for the forthcoming meeting next week of the eight Foreign Ministers of partner countries who were engaged on the sidelines of UNGA80 in the diplomatic process on Gaza,” the Foreign Office said in a statement on Tuesday.

The FO said Dar and Fidan discussed the evolving situation in Gaza, and the next steps and modalities for achieving lasting peace in Palestine.

In September, eight Ar­ab and Muslim-majority countries — Pakistan, Tur­k­­iye, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Egypt, the UAE, and Jordan — for­m­ed a group to work with US President Donald Tru­mp to end the Israel-Hamas war. Convened on Sept 23 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, the group built on the 2023 Arab-Islamic Contact Group to align with Trump’s 20-point peace plan.

The coalition’s goals included an immediate ceasefire; the exchange of all hostages and remains of those killed; deployment of a multinational stabilisation force to secure and demilitarize Gaza; and Gulf-funded reconstruction of the enclave as a terror-free economic zone. It also supports Gaza–West Bank unification and a two-state solution, while advancing regional normalisation under the Abraham Accords framework.

The upcoming meeting of the group follows weeks of deliberations within the coalition of Muslim and Arab-majority states. Earlier, officials said Pakistan is expected to announce soon whether it will contribute troops to the international stabilisation force being assembled for Gaza, amid indications that the decision is leaning toward participation. Officials had claimed that discussions within the government and military establishment were at an “advanced stage”.

Army chief Gen Asim Munir also visited Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia in the past few days to discuss the plan for Gaza and the proposed deployment of an international stabilisation force. With the coalition’s next meeting scheduled for next week in Turkiye, it is expected that a final Pakistani decision is likely to be announced following those discussions.

Besides Pakistan, Indonesia and Azerbaijan are also tipped to contribute troops to the stabilisation force, while Israel has rejected Turkish participation.

The issue was also raised during Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar’s meeting with his Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan in Riyadh. “The two leaders discussed bilateral relations, regional and international developments, including the situation in Gaza, and reaffirmed their shared commitment to cooperation at multilateral fora, including the United Nations,” FO said.

Refutation of Indian media report

On the other hand, the Ministry of Information issued clarification regarding a FirstPost report titled “With Munir’s CIA-Mossad deal, Pakistan to send 20,000 troops to Gaza under post-war plan”. The clarification rejected the report’s contents, noting that earlier coverage by Dawn (mentioned as a private newspaper) was quoted out of context and that the so-called intelligence sources cited in the FirstPost story were “misleading and concocted”.

However, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that a decision on sending Pakistani troops for the Gaza peace force was still being finalised and “it is in process”, Dawn.com added.

Asked whether any such move was in the offing or not, the defence minister told Geo News: “This thing has to be finalised [and] it is in process. The government will take a decision after passing through the process and I don’t want to preempt it.” He said parliament wou­ld be taken onboard and all institutions would be informed about the move.

He said if Muslim countries took a decision to participate in the peace force and Pakistan also had to take part, then it wou­ld be a ‘moment of pride’ for the country to protect Palest­i­n­ians. “This is an opportunity that Paki­st­an should avail if it is available to us,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2025