ISLAMABAD, 12 March 2007 — Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri has said Islamabad would oppose US military action against Iran because it would have serious ramifications, not only for Pakistan but for the entire Gulf region. “An attack on Iran would be very dangerous,” Kasuri said. Pakistan will not offer bases or provide logistic support to the United States should it decide to attack Iran, he said.
Kasuri’s statement comes on the heels of direct talks between Iran and the United States that have raised hopes for a peaceful solution to the nuclear standoff. He said the Americans had not exerted any pressure on Pakistan as was done after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
He said Pakistan had cooperated with the United States in the war on terror because it was in the national interest. Kasuri said Pakistan had been a victim of terrorism and it complied with UN resolutions by joining the war against terror.
Kasuri said Islamabad was happy that Iran and the United States were holding direct talks. He said the sanctions imposed on Iran by the United Nations Security Council did not bar Islamabad from maintaining trade and commercial relations with Tehran.
To a question about tension between Tehran and Islamabad over the alleged killing of border guards, Kasuri said it was a minor incident and would not affect relations. He said President Pervez Musharraf spoke to Iranian President Ahmadinejad and assured him of Islamabad’s diplomatic support in the nuclear standoff.
About the Indo-Pak talks beginning tomorrow in Islamabad, Kasuri said, “We will take up the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. So far the process of dialogue has yielded positive results.”
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said late on Saturday, “We want a diplomatic solution to the Iranian crisis. Pakistan has never supported military solutions to any issue.”
A similar statement was made by President Musharraf who was inspecting multinational naval exercises on Saturday. He did say, however, “For us the interest of Pakistan is first and foremost.”
Former Prime Minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, whose party is a member of the ruling coalition in Sindh, also said a military strike on Iran would result in a global energy crisis.
In an interview with Arab News Jatoi echoed Kasuri’s opinion that the current crisis should be resolved through diplomacy.
He said any strike against Iran would prove counterproductive. Jatoi said oil supplies from Iraq and Iran would be blocked in the event of an attack on Tehran.
Alluding to the recent statement by former US Gen. John Abizaid that any wrong move could trigger a larger conflict in the region or might even lead to World War III, Jatoi said there was an urgent need to step up diplomacy as suggested by the foreign ministers of seven Muslim countries at a recent conference in Islamabad. Jatoi was of the opinion that it would not be possible for the United States to launch an all-out attack on Iran.
Speaking about the political situation in the country, Jatoi said President Musharraf cannot contest elections as per the constitution. He deplored the suspension of Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry saying, “If the chief justice of the top court can be suspended and detained, one can guess about the rule of law in the country.” Referring to his visit to the Kingdom that begins tomorrow he said it would purely be a religious one.
