Pakistan ready to join Gaza peace force: Dar

‘Not ready’ to disarm resistance group Hamas, says FM

ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday said Pakistan was ready to commit its troops to the Gaza peace force, but distanced the country from any role in disarming the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

The foreign minister said the matter of Hamas’ disarmament first came up during a meeting in Riyadh on the two-state solution. The foreign minister was speaking at a press conference held on Saturday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“We are not ready for that. This is not our job, but of the Palestinian law enforcement agencies. Our job is peacekeeping, not peace enforcement. We are definitely ready to contribute to the force — the prime minister has in principle already announced after consultation with the field marshal that we will contribute — but this decision can not be taken until it is decided what its [ISF] mandate and TOR (terms of reference) will be.”

“As per my information, if it will include disarming Hamas, then even my Indonesian counterpart has informally expressed his reservation.”

Dar said he was present at the initial talks when the matter of the force was raised, adding that Indonesia had offered 20,000 troops and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had also signalled “in principle” that Pakistan would positively consider its participation.

The matter of any supposed role of Pakistan in disarming Hamas had elicited anger from Defence Minister Khawaja Asif last month, who had rubbished and strongly condemned contentious remarks by government spokesperson Danyal Chaudhry that the force’s mandate would include disarmament of Hamas.

Talking about the ISF, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad had said at the UNSC vote that it could be stabilising only if it operated under a clear UN-consistent mandate. Disarmament, he had said, must be carried out through a negotiated political process under a unified Palestinian National Authority. The text of the resolution says member states can take part in the Board of Peace, envisioned as a transitional authority that would oversee the reconstruction and economic recovery of Gaza. Staff Report