Far from being a “messenger boy” for Washington, Pakistan has teamed up with China to put forward a five-point peace plan to end the war between Iran and the United States and Israel.
Islamabad appears to be graduating from go-between to take on a much more ambitious diplomatic profile in the peace process. .
The plan presented by Pakistan and China appears to have very little or no resemblance to the aggressive 'peace plan' put forward by the US which more or less called for Iran's surrender on all key issues.
The five-point peace proposals were hammered out after a day of intense negotiations between Pakistan foreign minister Ishaq Dar, who is in Beijing, and a Chinese team. Field Marshal Asim Munir was also in the Chinese capital.
The proposals come on the heels of “crisis talks” hosted over the weekend in Islamabad attended by Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
China and Pakistan’s initiative starts bluntly, calling for an immediate “cessation of hostilities and utmost efforts to prevent the conflict from spreading”.
That is followed by a direct demand for “the start of peace talks as soon as possible”, underlining a clear push to halt the fighting before it widens further.
From there, the proposal lays out a broader framework aimed at stabilising the region. It stresses that the sovereignty, territorial integrity and national independence of Iran and Gulf states must be respected, and insists that dialogue and diplomacy are “the only viable option” to resolve the conflict.
All parties, it says, should commit to peaceful dispute resolution and refrain from the use or threat of force during negotiations.
The plan also places strong emphasis on protecting civilians and critical infrastructure, calling for an immediate halt to attacks on non-military targets and full adherence to international humanitarian law.
Energy installations, desalination plants, power grids and civilian nuclear facilities are singled out as essential infrastructure that must be shielded from further strikes.
A key pillar of the proposal focuses on safeguarding maritime trade, particularly through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most vital oil and gas transit routes.
Any disruption there risks immediate global consequences, from spiking energy prices to supply shocks in major importing economies such as India.
Finally, Beijing and Islamabad say their proposal upholds multilateral diplomacy and calls for renewed commitment to the United Nations and the principles of its Charter as the basis for a “comprehensive and lasting peace”.
The timing of the initiative is significant, coming as Pakistan finds itself at the centre of a flurry of high-level diplomacy. Foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt spent Sunday and Monday in Islamabad this weekend for two days of “de-escalation” talks.
For a country long dismissed by India as merely a conduit between adversaries, the moment marks a notable shift. Indian officials have been openly sceptical of Pakistan styling itself as a mediator.
At the same time, Islamabad last week relayed a US peace plan which Tehran swiftly rejected as one-sided.
External affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has said it is not India’s role to act as a “dalal” or broker, while former foreign secretary Nirupama Menon Rao has argued that a conduit “carries messages, it does not define outcomes”.
Yet Pakistan is now attempting to do precisely that. Its emergence reflects a shrinking pool of viable intermediaries. Many Gulf states are now directly exposed to the conflict, limiting their room to manoeuvre. Only a handful of countries, including Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt, retain working channels with both Washington and Tehran.
Pakistan has played such roles before, notably acting as a back channel between the United States and China in 1971. But officials now argue the current moment offers a chance to step beyond quiet facilitation into a more visible peacemaking role.
Prime Minister Sharif has said Pakistan would be “prepared and honoured” to host direct talks.
There are whispers however that certain US officials feel Islamabad is not the right venue for talks and could also have safety issues.