Islamabad, April 15 (IANS) Pakistan’s “self-styled” mediation in the US-Iran conflict reflects key inconsistencies and geopolitical stakes. Being a mediator, one should be impartial and not take any sides. Furthermore, mediator should be accepted from all the conflicting sides. However, Pakistan’s mediation in the West Asia conflict has steered away from these two points, a report has detailed.
Israel was not included in this mediation process despite being one of the parties to the conflict. Pakistan has not recognised Israel as a country and has termed it as an “illegal state.” Recently, Pakistan’s Defence Minister faced backlash after he shared a post against Israel on X, Manoj Kumar Panigrahi, an Associate Professor at Jindal School of International Affairs, wrote in Global Order.
He mentioned that, before the start of the mediation process, Israel’s Ambassador to India Reuven Azar had stated that Jerusalem does not view Islamabad as a “credible player” and had added that, the United States has decided to use the services of the facilitation of Pakistan “for their own reasons”. These paradoxes, the report mentioned, have and will cause confusion and can make or break mediation process as one of the nation, which is part of the conflict, and the mediator do not recognise each other.
Secondly, questions have been raised over Pakistan’s credibility and its role as a “natural” mediator since it is a treaty ally of Saudi Arabia. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia had signed the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement in 2025, under which, both nations pledged to support the other if either faces military attack. Since Saudi Arabia has faced missile attacks from Iran, there has been no commitment on whether Pakistan will come forward to back Tehran.
Thirdly, the report highlighted, Pakistan wants to have advantage by “acting” or “facilitating” the mediation process. The conflict in West Asia has overshadowed the war between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan’s involvement in the mediation process has helped Islamabad to have the US’ support against Afghanistan.
Lastly, according to the report in Global Order, the narrative push that Pakistan has been trying to make is that it has helped the world by mediating in the West Asian conflict and it had saved the world in a positive manner for the free flow of crude oil by reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
“This again stands in contradiction. The decision to agree to even talk can be seen as a primary ‘saturation’ by the United States and Iran. Pakistan’s acting as a ‘Peace Messiah’ again stalled flat, where it has regularly tried to hide itself behind the nuclear threat,” wrote Panigrahi.
–IANS
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