Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Tuesday that Pakistan is actively working through diplomatic channels to help bring the parties involved in the Middle East conflict to the negotiating table.
Briefing Pakistan’s Senate, Dar said Pakistan issued its first response to the situation on February 28, after reports emerged of the martyrdom of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He added that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had issued a statement expressing grief over the development.
The foreign minister recalled that when Iran was attacked in June last year, Pakistan had also made efforts at that time to help reduce tensions. After the recent attack on Iran, he said, Pakistan has again tried to ease the situation through backchannel diplomacy.
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Dar told the Senate that over the past three days, Pakistan has been in touch with several countries in an effort to bring diplomacy back to the fore and encourage dialogue. He said that Pakistan believes that problems can be solved through talks and mutual understanding rather than escalation.
Dar, who shared details of his recent engagements, said he had spoken late in the evening with Oman’s foreign minister. Stressing that Iran is Pakistan’s neighboring and brotherly Muslim country, he noted that some of the information he shared with the Senate had not even been released to the media.
Pakistan, he said, remains committed to playing a constructive role in reducing tensions and promoting dialogue in the region.
