ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday expressed hope that the defence pact between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia could be expanded to include additional nations, transforming it into an Eastern North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) alliance.
“Our defence pact with Saudi Arabia is significant. More countries now want to sign a similar agreement with us,” he said while speaking during a National Assembly session.
Stressing the significance of the pact, DPM Dar said that several Arab and Muslim nations expressed their wish to sign such an agreement with Pakistan.
The deputy prime minister was of the view that the pact could expand to other countries, transforming it into a “new Nato [North Atlantic Treaty Organisation] or Eastern Nato”.
“By God’s Will, Pakistan will lead 57 Islamic nations,” he said.
Recalling India’s aggression against Pakistan in May, the deputy prime minister said that the strikes on Pakistan would have been treated as an attack on Saudi Arabia in the presence of the pact.
Islamabad and Riyadh signed a “Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement” on September 17, pledging that any attack on either nation would be treated as an act of aggression against both.
‘Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan not ours’
During the speech, DPM Dar also said that the 20-point Gaza peace plan announced by US President Donald Trump was different from the draft proposed by the Muslim countries including Pakistan.
“The 20-point [Gaza peace plan] made public by President Trump are truly not ours and changes have been made to our draft,” he said.
Trump’s peace plan includes a ceasefire, a swap of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody, a phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, Hamas disarmament, and the establishment of a transitional government under an international body.
However, Pakistan has distanced itself from President Trump’s plan, with DPM Dar previously clarifying that the proposal was not the one that contained all of Pakistan’s suggestions.
While expressing his concerns on the Trump-led peace draft, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser said that any agreement excluding the Palestinians would be rejected.
In his address during the NA session, the senior PTI leader regretted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s endorsement of Trump’s peace plan for Gaza.
“Our prime minister had accepted all conditions even before Trump’s points came out,” he added.
Qaiser demanded that PM Shehbaz apologise to the nation for committing “injustice to the Palestinians”.
He also questioned the incumbent government’s decision to agree to Trump’s Gaza plan without discussing it in parliament.
