October 29, 2025<\/p>\n
ISLAMABAD \u2013 Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday said that a decision on sending Pakistani troops for the Gaza peace force was still being finalised and \u201cit is in process\u201d.<\/p>\n
A cornerstone of the US-brokered Gaza Peace Agreement is the establishment of the International Stabilisation Force (ISF), composed mainly of troops from Muslim-majority countries. According to officials close to the discussions, an announcement is expected soon from the federal government regarding the decision.<\/p>\n
Officials familiar with the deliberations, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said discussions within the government and military establishment were at an \u201cadvanced stage\u201d. According to them, the tone of internal consultations suggests that Islamabad is inclined to take part in the mission.<\/p>\n
Questioned whether any such move was in the offing or not in an interview on Geo News show \u2018Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath\u2019, Asif said: \u201cThis thing has to be finalised [and] it is in process. The government will take a decision after passing through the process and I don\u2019t want to preempt it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said parliament would be taken onboard and all institutions would be informed about the move.<\/p>\n
The defence minister said if Muslim countries took a decision to participate in the peace force and Pakistan also had to take part, then it would be a \u201cmoment of pride for the country to play a role in protecting Palestinians\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an opportunity that Pakistan should avail if it is available to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ISF\u2019s mandate would include maintaining internal security, disarming Hamas, securing border crossings, and assisting with humanitarian relief and reconstruction under the supervision of a transitional Palestinian authority.<\/p>\n
Officials in Islamabad argue that Pakistan\u2019s potential participation stems from both moral responsibility and diplomatic necessity. They noted that Pakistan was part of the original eight-country peace proposal conceived in late 2024, and backed by several Muslim-majority states, that formed the basis of the US-brokered Gaza peace plan finalised earlier this month.<\/p>\n
Since the ISF was a key pillar of that plan, officials said, Pakistan\u2019s participation would signal consistency and credibility. Another argument giv\u00aden by the government circles supporting Pakistan\u2019s inclusion in the ISF is its strong track record in int\u00adernational peacekeeping.<\/p>\n
Pakistan is one of the largest troop contributors to United Nations peace missions, having deployed more than 200,000 personnel to over 40 operations across Africa, Asia and the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Officials contend that this experience not only equips Pakistani forces to manage volatile post-conflict environments but also lends credibility and legitimacy to the ISF.<\/p>\n
Beyond moral and operational grounds, foreign policy imperatives also underpin the government\u2019s case for participation. Officials argue that joining the Gaza stabilisation force could strengthen Pakistan\u2019s relations with the United States.<\/p>\n
Islamabad\u2019s ties with Washington have been on a gradual mend since Trump\u2019s return to the White House, following years of friction over Afghanistan and counter-terrorism. Participating in a US-supported multilateral initiative, they said, could further this thaw and open avenues for economic cooperation, defence support and regional influence.<\/p>\n
However, officials cautioned that there is still no clarity on the legal framework for the deployment. \u201cIdeally, we would like this deployment to take place under a UN mandate,\u201d an official said.<\/p>\n
Still, such a deployment would not be without risk. Gaza remains highly volatile, and domestic opinion in Pakistan presents an additional challenge.<\/p>\n
Many Pakistanis, deeply sympathetic to the Pales\u00adtinian cause, may perceive participation in a US-desi\u00adgned stabilisation mission as serving Israeli interests or even as a betrayal of Palestinian resistance. \u201cIt\u2019s a difficult but defining choice,\u201d said another official.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah said in an interview on ARY News show \u201811th Hour\u2019 a day ago that if the Pakistani military got the opportunity to establish peace in Gaza then \u201cI don\u2019t think there can be a better thing than this to save\u201d Palestinians.<\/p>\n
He said the above was his personal opinion and he was not aware whether any offer was made or not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"October 29, 2025 ISLAMABAD \u2013 Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday said that a decision on sending Pakistani…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[68158,25508,68159,24702,42,46,43,338,48,40,38,41,39,1032],"class_list":["post-103800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-conflict-war","tag-dawn","tag-defence-security","tag-geopolitics","tag-headlines","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-pakistan","tag-palestine","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}