There are some stories whose cruelty lies not in any single tragedy but in the everyday injustice they reveal. Maritime workers afloat in the Persian Gulf have become disposable tokens in a conflict they did not start. When the International Maritime Organisation\u2019s (IMO) Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez told the UN Security Council on Monday that shipping and seafarers should never be used as leverage in geopolitical conflicts, he was not indulging in clich\u00e9.
\nAt least 29 vessels have been attacked since the beginning of the crisis, resulting in the deaths of 10 seafarers and damage to many vessels. About 20,000 seafarers and 1,600 vessels?still remain in the Gulf.
\nThe Strait of Hormuz carries a fifth of the world\u2019s oil and a third of internationally traded fertilisers. Since Washington and Israel began bombing Iran in late February, commercial traffic has almost collapsed. An average of 138 ships sailed through the strait each day before the conflict, but now five vessels make the journey.
\nSecretary?General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres has already warned the Security Council that the disruption already has \u201ccascading\u201d effects on energy, food and trade, appealing bluntly, \u201cOpen the strait. Let ships pass. No tolls. No discrimination\u201d.
\nMarco Rubio, the US secretary of state, meanwhile, claimed that even if Iran is serious about a deal, Washington would never \u201cnormalize\u201d a system where Iran decides who uses a waterway and how much they must pay.
\nIn this chaos, Pakistan has been a reluctant but decisive actor. From the very first day, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Asim Munir have been coaxing Washington and Tehran to take a step back from their positions and pursue peace. Pakistan\u2019s leaders know the stakes better than most. Their diplomacy has not yielded a settlement, yet it has prevented an immediate resumption of bombardment when the cease?fire expired. It is time their efforts were recognised as more than opportunistic showmanship.
\nAs of now, neither side is ready to look at the bigger picture or even acknowledge how civilians are paying for the hubris of their leaders. Lebanon\u2019s health ministry, for example, reports 2,521 people killed and 7,804 wounded since Israel\u2019s latest offensive began. More than three thousand lives have been lost in Iran. Such costs are invisible in Washington\u2019s talk of nuclear red lines or Tehran\u2019s bravado about becoming a key reference for global needs.
\nThe bigger conversation must move beyond tolls and rockets, and it needs journalists willing to ask uncomfortable questions. Why does international law bend under great?power pressure? In a region full of blame and bluster, Pakistan\u2019s call for diplomacy is not for optics. It is a plea for sanity in a war that has already stolen too many lives. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There are some stories whose cruelty lies not in any single tragedy but in the everyday injustice they reveal. Maritime workers afloat in the Persian Gulf have become disposable tokens in a conflict they did not start. When the International Maritime Organisation\u2019s (IMO) Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez told the UN Security Council on Monday that shipping […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-543534","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-editorial"},"yoast_head":"\n