Islamabad: Noted author and former diplomat Maleeha Lodhi on Monday joined Pakistan’s several analysts who are raising questions and expressing their doubts about the wisdom of Islamabad sending troops to join the International Stabilisation Force (ISF) under US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan.
Writing in leading Pakistani daily Dawn, Lodhi, a former Pakistani ambassador to the US, UK and UN, said that joining ISF will be contrary to Pakistan’s long-standing policy.
“From what is known so far it is apparent what ISF is and isn’t. It is not a UN, blue-helmet force. It has a vague UN mandate but no UN supervision. It will not be a peacekeeping force as it will have peace enforcement responsibilities, which makes it operationally different. It will have to work closely with Israeli authorities, other than Egypt. Israel has to approve countries that can be part of the force,” wrote Lodhi.
“Deployment would involve close cooperation with Israel, who is entirely untrustworthy and routinely fires at UN peacekeepers in Lebanon. What happens if Israeli forces start firing at ISF’s Pakistani contingent? Moreover, cooperation with Israel will be tantamount to implicit recognition of Israel and only a step away from formal recognition and joining the Abraham Accords. All this without any movement towards establishment of a Palestinian state,” she added.
The former diplomat highlighted that to consider whether Pakistan should be part of ISF, it is important to first examine the current state of play in Gaza and how the Trump plan’s second phase is unfolding.
“This will be contrary to Pakistan’s long-standing policy. Finally, Pakistan must consider that given obvious hurdles in enforcing an ill-defined Gaza peace plan and chances of it becoming a messy, inconclusive affair, should it risk walking into a quagmire which puts our soldiers in harm’s way. Pakistan’s national interests should be supreme in a decision that must be made in full transparency,” Lodhi mentioned.
The Pakistani government has conveyed to the US administration that it is considering joining the force. However, a final decision is yet to be made. In November, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said Pakistan was “definitely ready” to contribute to ISF but disarming Hamas was not their job.
For the past few months, Pakistan has been in discussions with the US seeking clarity over the mandate and structure of the Gaza force and related issues.
Several other Muslim nations who had earlier showed interest in joining ISF, have since demurred and no nation has pledged to commit soldiers as they wait for clarity on major issues.
On December 16, US Central Command hosted a conference in Doha, which was attended by Pakistan, to discuss the next phases of Trump’s plan, including deployment of ISF and creating consensus on its mandate. However, the participants at the meeting did not agree on the mandate.
The second phase involves creating governance arrangements for Gaza, further withdrawal of Israeli forces and disarmament of Hamas as well as deployment of ISF. Announcements regarding the Board of Peace, headed by Trump, as supervisory authority for transitional governance in Gaza have not been made yet and members have not been named to the technocratic committee of Palestinians responsible for Gaza’s day-to-day running.
(IANS)
