Islamabad
\nPrime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said Pakistan\u2019s international image has \u201ccompletely changed\u201d through its role in mediating between Iran and the United States after the conflict erupted following a coordinated US-Israeli attack on Iran in February.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s one of the shining moments in our history,\u201d the PM told The Sunday Times in his first interview since the conflict began, describing Pakistan as an \u201chonest mediator\u201d trusted by global leadership and crediting Islamabad with helping secure an extended ceasefire that remains in place.
\nThe premier said Pakistan remained hopeful of another round of face-to-face talks in Islamabad, which he said could help achieve long-lasting peace between Tehran and Washington.
\n\u201cPeace is never won easily,\u201d PM Shehbaz said. \u201cYou have to have patience, sagacity and ability to move things despite the most difficult challenges.\u201d
\nHe said Pakistan was continuing efforts to ensure the peace process achieved \u201clong-lasting peace\u201d through another session in Islamabad.
\n\u201cAs we speak, we\u2019re still doing our best to ensure that this peace effort achieves a long-lasting peace through another session here in Islamabad, and we are hopeful that will happen,\u201d he said.
\nPM Shehbaz said both Iran and the US administration trusted Pakistan\u2019s role in the mediation process.
\n\u201cFortunately, Iran trusts Pakistan as does the US administration \u2014 and also the Gulf states,\u201d he said, adding that he was grateful to US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian for accepting Pakistan\u2019s invitation for talks.
\nThe prime minister credited the country\u2019s political and military leadership for the diplomatic engagement, particularly praising Field Marshal Asim Munir and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.
\n\u201cWhat we are seeing is team efforts of the political and military leadership. I must acknowledge that the field marshal has played a critical role, which will be recorded in history,\u201d the prime minister said.
\nHe also lauded Dar\u2019s diplomatic outreach, saying the foreign minister had been \u201cengaging his counterparts and making untiring efforts\u201d.
\nPM Shehbaz said Pakistan had been placed in a \u201cprestigious position\u201d through a \u201cstroke of good luck\u201d. He added: \u201cOur international image has completely changed through this partnership of our political and military hierarchy.\u201d
\nThe prime minister also thanked Trump for previously helping negotiate a ceasefire between Pakistan and India.
\n\u201cHad he not intervened, the world may have witnessed a major catastrophe in South Asia,\u201d PM Shehbaz said.
\nDiscussing regional security, the premier defended Pakistan\u2019s actions against militant groups operating from Afghanistan, saying Islamabad had repeatedly conveyed peaceful messages to Kabul.
\n\u201cWith Afghanistan, we had no other choice but kinetic action against terrorist hideouts and support infrastructure,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cOur only demand was they commit not to let those terrorist outfits operate from Kabul,\u201d PM Shehbaz added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said Pakistan\u2019s international image has \u201ccompletely changed\u201d through its role in mediating between Iran and the United States after the conflict erupted following a coordinated US-Israeli attack on Iran in February. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the shining moments in our history,\u201d the PM told The Sunday Times in his first …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":97873,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97862","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=97862"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97894,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97862\/revisions\/97894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}