Zubair Qureshi
A possible peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel was the first casualty of the Hamas attack. Now, the government of Pakistan’s ‘weak’ stance on the situation can lead to public backlash in the country. These thoughts were expressed by the speakers at a roundtable conference titled “Geostrategic Conundrums: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Hamas-Israel Conflicts Impact on Pakistan” organized by an Islamabad-based think tank the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS).
Pakistan’s former envoy to Egypt Ambassador Mushtaq Shah (R), Chairman PICSS and former Pakistani High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Major General (R) Saad Khattak, Assistant Professor NUST Dr Farah Naz and Managing Director PICSS Abdullah Khan were among the speakers of the roundtable conference.
The event was attended by academia and diplomats. Ambassador Mushtaq Shah argued that Pakistan had no bilateral dispute with Israel. It supports the Palestinians based on the principle of decolonization and common faith. He however, said that Pakistan need not to get directly involved in the conflict but must continue to extend political and moral support to Hamas and build stronger bonds with Hamas which is now a de-facto representative of the Palestinian people.
Mushtaq Shah said that Hamas has popularity among Palestinians as well as in the Muslim world. Since there is no agreed upon definition of terrorism therefore declaring Hamas a terrorist organisation may not be acceptable to all. He said that a weak stance on the Palestine issue may result in public backlash in Pakistan. Pakistan should let the public vent out its anger, and for that matter, other Muslim countries should also let the public vent out anger and frustration. Otherwise, Muslim masses may throw out their own governments. Ambassador Mushtaq Shah also suggested that the world should stop looking at Hamas as a terrorist organisation. Otherwise, there will be terrorism as an outcome of suppression. He said that in the current situation, no normalisation with Israel is possible by Pakistan or any other country.
Maj Gen (R) Muhammad Saad Khattak was of the view that neither the government nor the people could support killing of innocent Israeli people by Hamas but in the same spirit the friends of Israel should come forward and condemn the butchering of Palestinian people in Gaza by the Israeli occupying forces. He said the current conflict did not build overnight, but it developed since 1948, and the rights of Palestinian people were snatched by Israel with the help and active support of the West. He criticized the western media’s double standards regarding coverage of the conflict. He also criticized Pakistan’s official stance on the current situation in Palestinian territories and said that Pakistan expressed a very weak stance that does not reflect aspirations of the people of Pakistan.
