ISLAMABAD: Appreciating Pakistan’s neutral stance over Yemen conflict, former Iranian minister and Foreign Relations Strategic Council Head Dr Kemal Kharazi stressed Pakistan and Iran should join hands and work together to ensure regional and global peace. He was addressing the session Emerging Regional & Global Scenario – A Perspective From Iran which was organised by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), Islamabad. The session was chaired by former foreign secretary Shamshad Ahmed Khan. Dr Kemal Kharazi was of the opinion that any cooperation between Iran and India can never be against Pakistan, much the same way no Pakistan alliance with Saudi Arabia can be made against Iran. He said that every country operates to serve its own interests but its increasing relations with India were not going to hurt Pakistan in any way. He said that Pakistan and Iran enjoyed cultural, religious, geographical and historical ties and even their interests were not much dissimilar from each other. It was thus the need of time that these deep-rooted relations be graduated to economic ones, which would provide significant impetus to the region’s economic growth. The linking of Gwadar and Chabahar Port was termed an important step by the Iranian former foreign secretary that should be taken in this regard. Speaking about some of the conflicts that existed between Iran and Pakistan, the speaker said that none of those issues were very serious in nature and hence they should not be reflected on the policies of either country. Shedding light on the developing situation in Afghanistan, Dr Kharazi termed the involvement of Taliban in Afghanistan’s government necessary, stating that any such development will invalidate any legitimate reasoning for United States’ stay in Afghanistan. The speaker stressed that Iran and Pakistan should join hands and work together in this regard as both the countries have suffered extensively over the matter. The US on the other hand, he viewed, would want to extend its stay in Afghanistan as much as possible as this will help in keeping an eye on China, Russia, Iran and Pakistan. Talking about the status of a nuclear deal between US and Iran following US President Donald Trump’s threats, Dr Kharazi said that though Iran was still sticking to the agreement, US was trying to run away from it and had already started violating the deal in the process. He said that the options for Iran were still open in case of US violation. On the matter of Daa’ish, the speaker said that the organisation was formed to counter the Iranian revolution but it failed to serve the purpose. He said that Daa’ish had recruited 80 thousand personnel which included 50,000 fighters from different countries. If Daa’ish becomes successful in Iran and Syria, then it will break the countries into parts, which will eventually benefit Israel. The speaker also explained the reasons behind the Iranian support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government stating that according to their reports, it was Israel’s plan to break Syria into two by making use of Daa’ish. He believed that such a situation will not be in good interests of the Islamic world, the reason why Iran keeps raising the question over why Saudi Arabia and other powers were supporting US over the matter? Since any such occurrence will also have an impact on Iran, it was only natural for Iran to favour Bashar al-Assad over the matter, Dr Kharazi said. The matter for Iran was not about the Shia-Sunni divide as the country was already working with Sunnis in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Palestine, he added. Shamshad Ahmad Khan opined that Pakistan, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia should join hands to provide the much-needed leadership for the Muslim world. He said that Pakistan’s participation in the Saudi Arabia-led military alliance was not against Iran; instead the country’s involvement might help in making sure that no offensive measure was being taken by the alliance against Iran. Throwing light on the state of the Muslim countries, the former foreign secretary said that the Muslim world possessed about 80 percent of all energy resources and about 60 percent of all natural resources of the world, sadly though the combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Muslim countries constituted only five percent of the world’s total GDP. Building on his argument, the speaker said that the United Nations had failed to stamp its authority by not playing any role to improve the situation in Indian-held Kashmir and Palestine, whereas Afghanistan and Syria were also burning but UN was doing nothing in this regard as well. He said that the Muslim world needed the alliance of Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in such a situation if it was to answer the stern challenges faced ahead. Former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani, who also presided over the event, stressed the need for a multilateral approach, involving Pakistan and Iran, for regional peace and security. He, however, underscored that Islamabad and Tehran would have to be mindful of each other’s concerns. He noted that the border issue, which had been a major irritant in bilateral ties because of cross-border terrorist attacks, had been largely addressed. Raza Rabbani warned about the emerging Indo-Israel-US nexus and maintained that it would determine the course of events in near future. He also pointed out the “strategic chain” in American threat perception involving China, Iran and terrorist groups and contended that US policies towards the region flow out of that thinking. Defense Analyst Dr Shireen Mazari said Iran would have to make hard choice of whether to support US design for the region by being a partner of India, the US ally in the region, or have cooperative relations with Pakistan, which too is under pressure from US. Dr Shireen Mazari worried that Pakistan’s parliamentary resolution on Yemen was being disregarded by the government. “A lot of questions are hanging on Pakistan’s role when the threat is coming closer to home,” she said adding that Pakistan’s resolve to stay out of Middle Eastern mess was weakening. Iran’s Ambassador to Pakistan Mehdi Honardoost recalled the upward trajectory in Pak-Iran ties over the past few months and hoped that it would gain further momentum in coming days. IPS Executive Director Professor Sajjad Bokhari, in his opening remarks, said, “Political divergences, differences in geo-strategic worldview, aggressions and acts of terrorism have aggravated the mutual trust crisis among the regional states.” This gulf, he said, can be bridged through dialogue and confidence building measures. IPI’s Malaika Raza in her comments said the best way to counter the Indo-Israel-US nexus, as pointed out by Rabbani, was to form a “nexus of resistance” involving Pakistan, Iran and Turkey. Published in Daily Times, March 28th 2018.