‘Pakistan’s mediation offer is an act of desperation’: Kanwal Sibal says Islamabad wants to avoid the worst

That Pakistan has got a regional edge over India due to its role as the mediator between the US and Iran is misreading the situation, said former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal. He explained that Pakistan is at the risk of being embroiled in the war if Saudi Arabia invokes the defence agreement. 

“That Pakistan has got a regional edge over India as a mediator in the US - Iran war is misreading the situation. Pakistan has a defence agreement with Saudi Arabia…Pakistan is fearful that the Saudi Crown Prince may invoke the defence agreement and embroil Pakistan in the conflict with Iran,” said Sibal.

He said that Saudi experts have begun invoking this agreement as well as Pakistan’s nuclear umbrella, adding that Pakistan has a powerful incentive to avoid the worst. Sibal said that’s what Pakistan has proposed to mediate. 

“Pakistan’s mediation offer is in some ways a diplomatic act of desperation,” said Sibal, adding that siding with Saudi Arabia means that Pakistan has sided with US and Israel, but is against Iran, which could have domestic consequences. 

“Let us therefore not lower our own dignity by  arguing we have lost regional standing by the US countenancing Pakistani mediation over India’s,” said Sibal, adding that Trump will also not give credit to the mediator.

“His ego is unmanageable,” said Sibal, adding that if India offered mediation then it would open the door for Trump to mediate between India and Pakistan. 

Kanwal’s insights come after Islamabad emerged as a potential mediator in the war. Israeli officials indicated that a potential meeting between US and Iranian representatives could take place in Islamabad as early as this week.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, however, said it was embarrassing for India to see Pakistan taking the centre-stage as a mediator. He said he was unhappy, and this is not what he hoped for when he supported the government's restraint.