ISLAMABAD – A couple of days after Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, and the Maldives formally severed diplomatic relations with Qatar, Pakistan Foreign Office on Wednesday clarified that the purpose of these countries cutting ties was to fight terrorism and was not aimed against any country.
The FO added that these counter-terror attempts by fellow Gulf nations would not impose any negative impact on lives of any one particular country.
“Pakistan has no plan to participate in any action that singles out any country,” FO spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said in a statement.
“It is wrong to say that these countries jointly severing ties with Qatar is aimed to target Qatar in particular. We will issue a statement if we find out that it is designed against a particular country,” Zakaria added.
Responding to the reservations of Qatar, Zakaria pointed out that all countries in question are Muslim, and hence they would not do anything against a fellow Muslim country.
The Foreign Office also clarified that a former Pakistani army chief would only be asked to militarily lead this coalition of GCC minus one countries, if the alliance isn’t discriminatory.
“We have issued a blank NOC to any of the former Army chiefs who might be interested, but we are yet to finalise the Terms of Reference with Saudi Arabia and UAE,” Zakaria confimed.
