islamabad
\nDefence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Friday that Pakistan was playing a very \u201cpivotal role\u201d in ending the war between the United States and Israel.
\nSpeaking in an interview on programme \u2018Naya Pakistan\u2019 on a private media outlet, he said Egypt, Turkiye and Pakistan were involved in the effort to stop the war and prevent further destruction in the region.
\n\u201cIt is a matter of honour for us for Pakistan\u2019s leadership to be playing an important and pivotal role in ending a conflict in which our brotherly Muslim community is involved.\u201d
\nHe credited Pakistan\u2019s greater role in the conflict\u2019s mediation to its \u201cenhanced image and worth\u201d internationally and among Muslim countries after last year\u2019s military conflict with India.
\nThe defence minister also pointed towards Pakistan\u2019s ramped-up diplomacy in the conflict\u2019s aftermath, saying the country was in a \u201cunique phase\u201d in its history where there was strong trust and confidence present.
\n\u201cAnother side of this coin is our relations with the US and the direction they\u2019ve taken,\u201d Asif said, adding that Pakistan had never before achieved the kind of position as the present in its diplomacy with the US.
\nThe minister further said that Pakistan was in an active state of war with Afghanistan, with \u201clukewarm tensions\u201d present with India as well. \u201cI think history is in the making. Pakistan\u2019s leadership, and the hybrid system \u2026 is delivering.
\nNot only within Pakistan \u2026 but the way our prestige has enhanced internationally, I think both Pindi and Islamabad have realised that Pakistan\u2019s respect is rooted in a joint leadership front.\u201d
\nAsif said Pakistan was in a position to play a role, adding that it was an opportunity by history for the government to mark its position for future generations to remember.
\n\u201cWe have to build on these opportunities that nature provides. I think staying away is not an option,\u201d he said, adding that there were not a lot of huge risk factors for Pakistan in the situation.
\n\u201cI think the benefits are huge,\u201d he added.
\nQuestioned about the mutual defence pact with Saudi Arabia possibly kicking in if the Gulf states responded to Iran, the defence minister said: \u201cWe could be subject to the situation, you are absolutely right. This is why the role of diplomacy is all the more important, so we don\u2019t let that situation arise and avoid it.\u201d
\nQuestioned about reports of Pakistan hosting US-Iran talks, Asif said it was better for him not to comment on the situation so that it could come to fruition on its own.
\nOn recent disparaging remarks by the Indian leadership about Pakistan\u2019s role, the minister said: \u201cI think they are tearing their mouth off \u2026 it is their failure, there is no doubt in this. Jaishankar and his father were diplomats \u2026 diplomacy is his family profession, and he is mocking us as a \u2018broker\u2019? he is a \u2018broker\u2019 by heritage and he is mocking us.\u201d
\nHe also questioned whether India had not attempted a similar role in the Russia-Ukraine war.
\n\u201cI think India has been defeated on both the military and diplomatic levels \u2026 the face of the butcher of Gujarat has come to the fore.\u201d
\nOn the progress in the operation against Afghanistan, he said Pakistan had succeeded in creating pressure but could not predict the long-term situation. \u201cThe offence we started has not concluded, there was a lull due to Eid and the world\u2019s attention is currently on a bigger conflict. We will not give them any respite; there is no doubt about it. We have to conclude this operation to attain maximum results.\u201d
\nThe minister expressed hope that China\u2019s influence on and in Afghanistan would be able to conclusively solve the crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
islamabad Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Friday that Pakistan was playing a very \u201cpivotal role\u201d in ending the war between the United States and Israel. Speaking in an interview on programme \u2018Naya Pakistan\u2019 on a private media outlet, he said Egypt, Turkiye and Pakistan were involved in the effort to stop the war and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":87948,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95518"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95534,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95518\/revisions\/95534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}