Pakistan on Wednesday accepted United States President Donald Trump’s invitation to join the so-called “Board of Peace” with the view to “achieving lasting peace in Gaza”.

According to the Foreign Office, Pakistan is hopeful that with the creation of this framework, “concrete steps will be taken towards the implementation of a permanent ceasefire, further scaling up of humanitarian aid for the Palestinians, as well as reconstruction of Gaza”.

However, the decision has been viewed critically by politicos and analysts.

Author and journalist Zahid Hussain said Pakistan had rushed to join the board.

‘Pakistan jumped the gun’

“Pakistan has done it in a hurry,” he told Dawn. “They should have waited. It would give them ample time to see what other countries are doing.”

Hussain noted that Pakistan would be party to “Trump’s adventurism”, adding that the board was seemingly being built as a parallel organisation to the United Nations, and therefore, a threat to global order.

“It raises questions about Pakistan’s foreign policy: do we just want to follow Trump’s diktat? We seem to only want to be in Trump’s good books,” he explained. “Trump’s imperialism has changed the power structure.”

Hussain also noted that Pakistan would be on the board with countries like Israel and nations that had signed the Abraham Accords, adding that there was no representation for Palestinians.

“It is the most disastrous thing, and we jumped the gun. The foreign policy of a responsible country is not like this,” he said.

When asked if joining the board opened the door for Pakistan deploying troops to Gaza, Hussain said that Pakistan was already very close to doing that.

“One thing is clear: the force will be led by an American general,” he replied.

“Is Pakistan willing to disarm Hamas?” he asked. “There’s a real danger of our troops or the troops of other nations fighting Palestinian resistance. The policy is bankrupt.”

‘Morally incorrect and indefensible’

Opposition leader in the Senate Allama Raja Nasir Abbas denounced Pakistan’s decision in a post on X, calling it “morally incorrect and indefensible, both on principle and on policy”.

“The initiative was problematic from the outset. Conceived as an externally managed arrangement for post-war Gaza, it effectively removes the right of governance from the Palestinian people themselves. By placing reconstruction, security and political oversight in the hands of outside actors, the project carries the unmistakable imprint of a neo-colonial enterprise. Such frameworks rarely end at administration,” he said.

“Trump’s initiative will, over time, erode the very right to self-determination it claims to safeguard,” he said.

“What makes Pakistan’s participation more troubling is that an initiative initially sold as a limited mechanism for rebuilding after the genocide in Gaza is now being openly expanded. Statements by its principal sponsor and the contents of its draft charter suggest ambitions well beyond Palestine, with little regard for the United Nations. The absence of clear UN oversight and the board’s widening mandate point towards an attempt to supplant, or at the very least marginalise, the existing multilateral system,” he said.

“By lending its name to this effort, Pakistan appears to endorse a structure that sidelines the UN and replaces international law with a personalised political platform. This sits uneasily with Islamabad’s own reliance on multilateral forums and UN resolutions, particularly on issues such as Kashmir, where Pakistan consistently argues for the primacy of international legality,” he said.

“The inconsistency is difficult to explain. Pakistan cannot credibly uphold UN centrality where it suits its interests while participating in initiatives that weaken the institution elsewhere. Nor does this alignment serve the Palestinian cause, which has always rested on the principles of self-determination and UN-backed legitimacy, not externally imposed governance models,” he said.

“Foreign policy decisions driven by short-term calculation often produce lasting consequences. By associating itself with a project that undermines both Palestinian agency and the UN system, Pakistan risks diluting its moral standing and strategic coherence. It is a decision Pakistan will regret,” he said.

‘Wrong for several reasons’

Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-i-Ayeen-i-Pakistan leader Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said the decision to join the board without any public debate or input from Parliament “smacks of the disregard this regime has of the Pakistani nation”.

“The so-called ‘Board of Peace’ is a colonial enterprise to not only govern Gaza but create a parallel system to the UN,” Khokar said in a post on X

“The board ‘will have the courage to depart from approaches and institutions that have too often failed’. It will be ‘a more nimble and effective international peace-building body’, in its own language,” he noted.

“The charter of this ‘Board of Peace’ gives Trump czarist powers to implement his personal as well as US agenda without any mechanism to prevent such one sided outcome,” he said.

“All other members can be nominated by the chairman (Trump) or terminated by him [and] the chairman can choose when the board meets or what it discusses.”

Khokar added that in addition to these powers, Trump would wield an absolute veto as the chairman.

“The one billion dollar ticket for a permanent seat creates, in other words, a rich man’s club and what such clubs more than often do is anyone’s guess!” he said.

Khokar questioned what would happen if the board decided to attack Iran.

“Its charter says as an objective, ‘a permanent fixture to promote peace and good governance around the world’. A loose worded accusation/charge that can be used against anyone,” Khokar added.

“What the h*** are we binding ourselves to?” he asked.

‘Unwise for many reasons’

Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US, the UK and the UN, called it an “unwise decision for many reasons”.

“The government has overlooked the fact that Trump wants states to join the board to secure international support and legitimacy for what are and will be unilateral actions by him,” she said on X.

Lodhi also noted that the board’s remit was very broad and extended beyond Gaza.

“[It is] another reason not to join,” she said.

Former human rights minister Shireen Mazari responded to Lodhi’s post, saying, “Absolutely. A very unwise decision.”

‘Absolutely correct’

Former information minister Fawad Chaudhry said it was an “absolutely correct decision”.

“Pakistan must play its role in defining [the] future of the people of Palestine,” Chaudhry said on X.

‘Shameful betrayal’

Activist Ammar Ali Jan, meanwhile, said, “At a time when the world is shocked at Trump’s erratic decisions, Pakistan has chosen to join his ‘Board of Peace’, a neocolonial arrangement to continue the occupation of Palestine.

“This decision was neither debated in [the] media nor in the Parliament. Shameful betrayal by the regime!” Jan said on X.

‘What a disgrace’

“So Pakistan will be sitting with Israel on this “board of piece” - very perpetrators of the Palestinian Holocaust? What a disgrace,” said author and activist Fatima Bhutto.