Pakistan has “very large” and “effective” armed forces that have proven their capabilities in conventional warfare, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said during an interview to Al Jazeera when asked about the possible position Islamabad would take in case a united body in the Middle East was formed to stop Israeli aggression.
The interview, published late on Monday night, saw Dar in conversation with Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javed. who asked the foreign minister if the formation of a united body in the Middle East, away from the United Nations structure, to intervene in Gaza was an option on the table.
To that, Dar began his response by mentioning that “vis a vis UN Security Council, a mechanism could be chalked out”.
“For example, they have [imposed] very serious sanctions on countries that don’t listen to them. And that is a very severe economic dent or pain they can cause to any country.”
He then went on to say that there had been talk along the lines of “some sort of combined security force” during recent interactions among Arab nations and the Arab League.
Dar added, “Why not? What’s wrong with that? They should [have a combined force]. And according to their own capacity, own strength, they should create some mechanism. Not for aggression purpose [sic], but for peaceful purpose[s], for stopping the aggressor, for stopping the occupier, for stopping someone who just doesn’t listen.”
Where would a “nuclear-powered Pakistan” stand with that, asked Javed.
“Nuclear-powered Pakistan, obviously, as a member of the ummah, would discharge its duty,” replied Dar.
Javed then asked him to further elaborate in his answer.
In his response, Dar clarified that Pakistan saw nuclear weapons only as a deterrence and didn’t intend to use them. “We have no intention of using it; it is only a deterrence.”
He continued: “But Pakistan has a very large, known, very effective army, very effective air force, very effective navy … We have proved that we can beat [our opponent] even conventionally, if challenged.”
More to follow
