Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi Wednesday said Prime Minister Imran Khan’s peace initiative to facilitate the brotherly Muslim countries of Saudi Arabia and Iran to sort out their differences through diplomatic means is yielding results.
Addressing a press conference, he expressed satisfaction that the initiative based upon facilitation on part of Pakistan has helped in dialling back tensions in the Gulf. “Today, we are feeling satisfaction that the clouds of conflict and war over the region appeared to have been receding. Pakistan’s top objective is to avoid such conflict,” he added.
The foreign minister said during his recent visits, the prime minister held meetings with the Iranian leadership in a very positive atmosphere. “The Iranian side openly said they do not want tussle with Saudi Arabia and are willing to sort out things. They expressed their desire for holding dialogue either direct or through third party facilitation,” he added. Qureshi said with such an encouraging response, the prime minister went to Saudi Arabia and held meetings with the Saudi leadership. “The prime minister presented Pakistan’s view over the regional situation and also conveyed Iranian response,” the minister said, adding, “No doubt, it is a complex issue as it has a specific background and in the past, interventions were also made by the world community and Pakistan as well,” he added. Qureshi said the outcome of the initiative is positive as the parties prefer the peaceful diplomatic process so that the differences can be sorted out. “It is a good beginning, but at the moment it is not suitable to go into further details as they are deliberating on the way forward,” he added.
