Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday said Pakistan was making \u201cfull diplomatic efforts\u201d to de-escalate the regional situation following attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran. \u201cThis recent escalation \u2026 has \u2026 significantly heightened tensions in an already volatile and fragile environment. We are making full diplomatic efforts and requesting all parties to de-escalate,\u201d Dar said during a media briefing in Islamabad. He recalled Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif\u2019s visit to Austria and noted that he held discussions with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), saying that the \u201cfeedback was positive\u201d. He said that \u201cserious developments\u201d had taken place at a time when \u201cdiplomatic efforts were underway to reach a peaceful and negotiable \u2026 solution\u201d. \u201cBut what triggered all of a sudden engulfed \u2026 almost all countries,\u201d he said. He then referred to a high-level meeting chaired by the prime minister on Sunday, which reviewed the regional environment and the situation between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Commenting on the assassination of Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and said: \u201cWe are concerned over the violation of norms as well as international law \u2026 that the heads of state and the government \u2026 have been targeted.\u201d The foreign minister said Pakistan had consistently urged that the door to dialogue and diplomacy must not be closed. \u201cPakistan\u2019s position has been clear and persistent that all countries must abide by the principles of the UN Charter and international law, including respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other states, as well as international humanitarian law,\u201d he said. He also referred to his conversation with Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi last week and said, \u201cI conveyed Pakistan\u2019s condemnation of the attacks, called for diplomacy, restraint and dialogue, to which he positively responded.\u201d However, he said, on the ground, things were not settling down. The foreign Minister also talked about the emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) held on the situation in the Middle East, saying \u201cPakistan\u2019s permanent representative at the UN also reiterated Pakistan\u2019s condemnation of the attack on Iran.\u201d The deputy prime minister further stated that he spoke with the foreign ministers of several countries in this regard. \u201cI think I have not talked to anyone who disagrees that dialogue and diplomacy are the only way forward, not only for this region but wherever there is any conflict,\u201d he said. \u201cPakistan also stands in full solidarity with all our brotherly countries and underscores the need to exercise maximum restraint,\u201d he said, adding that this was the message Pakistan\u2019s leadership was giving in conversations with others. He acknowledged that while Iran\u2019s retaliatory strikes were in self-defence, Pakistan regretted and condemned the strikes against Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates and Oman. \u201cWe can\u2019t have double standards,\u201d he said. He said that while Iran had stated that it had attacked US bases in these countries, there was \u201cno justification\u201d. He reiterated that the prime minister had also expressed deep regrets on the situation and called the leadership of the brotherly countries and requested them to exercise restraint. \u201cDevelopments in the last 72 hours [are] really very, very worrisome,\u201d he said. \u201cIn our outreach, at the leadership level, we have called for an immediate halt to escalation through the urgent resumption of diplomacy to achieve a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the crisis,\u201d he said. \u201cPakistan stands ready to extend support towards the peaceful resolution of outstanding issues,\u201d he said. He recalled the negotiations between the US and Iran \u2014 the previous round held last year and the latest round held in Geneva and Oman. \u201cOur effort has been to encourage both the US and Iran to engage in dialogue, diplomacy, and resolve the issue \u2026 We have been encouraging to make it viable, win-win for both the US and Iran. I think we are very close in counselling both countries on this subject.\u201d \u201cThey were both positive and forthcoming,\u201d he said. Dar said that Gulf countries hosted millions of Pakistanis, regretting the death of a Pakistani national in Iran\u2019s attack on Abu Dhabi. The foreign minister said Pakistan\u2019s missions in the Gulf region were fully engaged with the diaspora and in close contact with local authorities for facilitation. \u201cPakistan has always supported the cessation of hostilities, upholding international law, and principles of the UN Charter, and the resumption of diplomacy to find a peaceful and negotiated solution,\u201d he added. \u2018Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq against Afghanistan in self-defence\u2019 Talking about neighbouring Afghanistan, Dar maintained that Pakistan wanted good relations with all its neighbours, saying he had visited Afghanistan three times. He said that in all engagements with Afghanistan, Pakistan had always demanded that Kabul stop its soil from being used for terrorism against other countries. \u201cWe had only one demand, that please do not allow the Balochistan Liberation Army, the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, the Majeed Brigade \u2014 which have been proscribed by many countries \u2014 or provide them facilitation,\u201d he said. The deputy PM then recalled \u201cserious violations\u201d that took place in October 2025, adding that soldiers were being martyred every week, which \u201cis certainly not acceptable under any circumstances\u201d. He further said Pakistan had no choice but to launch Operation Ghazab lil-Haq after repeated terrorist attacks. \u201cWe have the capacity, we have the will, we have the kinetic capability to handle it in a very meaningful way. But we have been exercising extreme restraint \u2026 to what has been happening.\u201d Dar recalled the talks between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban held in Qatar and Turkiye after the October clashes. \u201cBut the outcome was nothing, nil,\u201d he stated for both rounds of talks. \u201cSo we had no choice but to launch Operation Ghazab lil-Haq in response to repeated terrorist attacks by Fitna Al Khawarij and Fitna Al Hindustan against Pakistan emanating from Afghan soil, as well as the recent unwarranted and provocative actions by the Afghan Taliban regime on the night of February 26,\u201d Dar asserted. Dar further said that the repeated terrorist activities originating from Afghan soil had \u201cled us, forced us to now take it seriously\u201d. He recalled \u201chigh-profile\u201d incidents, including the Islamabad court bombing, the coordinated BLA attacks across Balochistan and the February 6 imambargah suicide bombing. \u201cPakistan has conclusive evidence that the recent acts of terrorism in Bajaur and Bannu were perpetrated by TTP at the behest of their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers,\u201d Dar asserted. He added that prior to launching the ongoing operation, Pakistan \u201ccarried out intelligence-based selective targeting of seven terrorist camps and hideouts on February 21\u201d. Dar said that Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq \u201cin self-defence, carrying out precise and targeted operations against seven terrorist camps and hideouts belonging to the TTP and IS-KP in Afghanistan\u201d. The deputy prime minister asserted that Pakistan\u2019s \u201cactions were proportionate, minimum and measured, with careful planning in order to make sure that only the terrorist camps and hideouts are hit and civilian populations should not be targeted\u201d. Dar mentioned there were \u201cprovocative actions by the Afghan Taliban on 53 locations across 15 sectors in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa\u201d on the night of February 26. \u201cNow this is horrifying and this is totally lunatic,\u201d he remarked, adding that such actions were \u201ctotally a no-go for Pakistan\u201d. He further said that Pakistan\u2019s actions during the operation were \u201cvery cery careful\u201d. \u201cIn this operation, initially 22 locations in Kabul, Kandahar, Paktia, Nangarhar, Khost and Paktika were subjected to aerial targeting and all these targets were military installations, which were carefully selected based on our intelligence,\u201d Dar said. \u201cAs a result of Pakistan\u2019s befitting response to the Afghan Taliban regime, valiant forces targeted 37 locations in Afghanistan, 415 Taliban regime personnel and khwarij were eliminated, 182 posts destroyed, 31 posts captured, 185 tanks and armoured personnel carriers were destroyed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday said Pakistan was making \u201cfull diplomatic efforts\u201d to de-escalate the regional situation following attacks by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31009,"comment_status":"registered_only","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news-updates"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}