By Sadaf Sundas Riaz — SCN NEWS
ISLAMABAD/UNITED NATIONS — Pakistan is intensifying diplomatic efforts to halt the widening Middle East conflict, with Foreign Secretary Asim Iftikhar Ahmad saying Islamabad is pushing for an immediate ceasefire, de-escalation and a return to negotiations as fighting increasingly threatens Gulf security, energy infrastructure and critical maritime routes.
Ahmad said Pakistan believes the deteriorating crisis must ultimately be resolved through diplomacy and within the framework of international law and the United Nations. Islamabad's immediate objective, he said, is to stop the fighting, lower tensions and bring the parties back to the negotiating table rather than allow another cycle of military escalation to dictate the region's future.
His comments carry additional weight because they follow Pakistan's intervention at the UN Security Council only days earlier. Addressing a Council discussion on Iran on September 10, Ahmad described the renewed Middle East violence as deeply troubling for regional peace and argued that diplomacy could still produce results if governments created sufficient political space for it.
That sequence suggests Islamabad is moving beyond a general call for restraint and trying to position itself as an active diplomatic bridge as the conflict enters a more dangerous phase.
Pakistan says it cannot remain on the sidelines
Ahmad acknowledged that events were moving in a negative direction and said Pakistan recognised that it had a role to play in preventing further escalation. He pointed specifically to Islamabad's involvement during the Iran-U.S. confrontation, describing Pakistan as being among the countries at the forefront of diplomatic efforts surrounding that crisis.
Pakistan's facilitative role predates the latest escalation. The Foreign Ministry said in April that Islamabad had maintained sustained engagement with both Washington and Tehran, encouraged dialogue, facilitated exchanges of messages and attempted to create conditions for meaningful negotiations. Those channels involved Pakistan's senior political and military leadership, according to the ministry.
That history is important because Pakistan's current diplomacy is taking place under considerably more complicated circumstances.
Ahmad also cited the Makkah agreement involving Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye, saying Islamabad was assuming additional responsibility while maintaining that the objective remained regional peace and stability.
The combination creates a delicate diplomatic equation: Pakistan is seeking to maintain channels useful for de-escalation while simultaneously navigating increasingly consequential security relationships in the Gulf.
Gulf escalation raises the stakes for Islamabad
The urgency behind Pakistan's diplomatic push is also economic and strategic.
The widening conflict has placed pressure on Gulf energy infrastructure and maritime routes, while instability around the Strait of Hormuz has become an international concern. Oman recently postponed regional talks concerning management of the waterway amid disagreements among regional states, while attacks and military activity elsewhere have added to fears of further spillover.
For Pakistan, prolonged disruption across the Gulf would carry consequences well beyond foreign policy. The region is central to Pakistan's energy security and economic relationships, making de-escalation a direct national interest as well as a diplomatic objective.
That gives Islamabad a reason to pursue engagement with several competing centres of power rather than attach its diplomacy exclusively to one camp.
UN diplomacy becomes part of Pakistan's strategy
Ahmad also pushed back against arguments that the United Nations had become irrelevant as military escalation overtook diplomacy.
Pakistan's position is that the UN framework remains necessary precisely because the alternative is the continued use of force to settle political and security disputes. Ahmad argued that the Security Council system is intended to resolve conflicts through negotiation and also reiterated Islamabad's position that the Palestinian and Kashmir disputes should be addressed in accordance with relevant UN Security Council resolutions.
At the Security Council days earlier, he had similarly called for outstanding issues — including the Iranian nuclear question — to be addressed through peaceful means, sustained dialogue and diplomatic engagement. He said Pakistan had coordinated with regional and international partners to encourage dialogue and help create conditions for negotiations.
The message from Islamabad is therefore becoming more defined: ceasefire first, de-escalation next, negotiations after that.
Whether Pakistan can help translate that sequence into actual negotiations will depend largely on decisions made by the principal belligerents. But Ahmad's latest intervention shows Islamabad is seeking a more visible place in the diplomatic effort rather than waiting for the conflict to run its course.