The call between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Qatar\u2019s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani lands at a moment when the Middle East is again holding its breath, and when every diplomatic opening has to be protected from those who see war not as failure, but as clarity. Pakistan and Qatar have asked for sustained international efforts to preserve the US-Iran ceasefire, prevent fresh escalation and restore regional stability. Doha then said aloud what Islamabad\u2019s detractors would rather ignore. \u201cWe are supportive of the diplomatic effort by Pakistan that has shown seriousness in bringing parties together and finding a solution,\u201d Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said, as he urged patience for Pakistan-mediated US-Iran talks.
\nThat Islamabad has not arrived at this moment by accident cannot be stressed enough. It has kept the line open with Tehran, and Iran\u2019s repeated public confidence in Pakistan\u2019s mediation has not come out of thin air. It has stayed engaged with the Gulf, spoken to Washington without renting out its judgement, and avoided the easy temptation of megaphone diplomacy at a time when one reckless sentence can travel faster than a missile. In a region where almost every day drags another call for escalation into the open, only the extremely naive would call this restraint weakness.Cultural Exchange Programs
\nThe ceasefire remains a thin sheet over a furnace. President Trump has warned of military action even as Gulf capitals push hard to keep the door to diplomacy from being kicked shut. Israel\u2019s conduct in Lebanon shows how quickly a truce can become a scrap of paper once battlefield logic takes over. In Tehran, meanwhile, Iranian national security council chairman Ebrahim Azizi has already taken to social media to declare that \u201cpower is the only language\u201d Mr Trump understands. That is the danger of the present moment. Even as diplomats search for a ladder, too many powerful men are still polishing the weapons.
\nPakistan\u2019s outreach to every friendly capital with a stake in regional calm is, therefore, not a courtesy call. It is a firebreak against a blaze that would not stop at the Strait of Hormuz. There is no need for triumphalism. Pakistan\u2019s role is already strong enough without drum-beating. It has shown that a state, even when battered by militant outfits, can still behave like an adult in the room. That space must now be guarded like national infrastructure. The ceasefire may fray again, spoilers will test it, and hawks will keep selling war as clarity, because that is what hawks do when they do not have to bury the dead. Lebanon has already shown how a truce bleeds before it dies. At the UN, Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the secretary general, could offer only the grim phrase \u201clesser fire\u201d as Israeli strikes and Hezbollah return fire kept tearing holes in the pause.
\nPakistan cannot afford theatrics at such an hour. Its answer has to remain steady, watchful and useful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The call between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Qatar\u2019s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani lands at a moment when the Middle East is again holding its breath, and when every diplomatic opening has to be protected from those who see war not as failure, but as clarity. Pakistan and Qatar […]<\/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":["post-547604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\n