Iran is an important player in the region and Islamabad is expected to forge special relations with the country under Imran Khan, who is set to become the next prime minister of Pakistan, says a senior analyst.
"Iran will have a special place in the country's foreign policy," Rahimullah Yusufzai, a veteran Pakistani journalist and expert on political affairs, told IRNA in an interview published on Saturday.
"As Imran Khan said in his first speech after his party's victory, the government under his rule intends to cooperate with the Islamic Republic of Iran, Afghanistan, India, Saudi Arabia and the United States," he said, referring to Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party’s win in last month’s general election. In his victory speech, the former cricket star-turned-politician said his party is keen on closer relations with Iran and expressed willingness to help restore the strained Iran-Saudi relations.
"We want to improve ties with Iran. Saudi Arabia is a friend who has always stood by us in difficult times. Our aim will be that whatever we can do for conciliation in the Middle East, we want to play that role. Those tensions, that fight, between neighbors, we will try to bring them together," Khan said, Al Jazeera reported.
Riyadh severed diplomatic relations after Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi Embassy in Tehran following the execution of a Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia in January 2016. Yusufzai said foiling Israeli plots and contributing to regional peace and stability are high on the agenda of the PTI chairman, who, according to Pakistani media, is scheduled to be sworn in on August 18.
"Imran Khan may be seeking to play a role in bringing the Islamic Republic [of Iran] and Saudi Arabia closer to help restore peace and stability in the region and thwart the conspiracies hatched by the Zionist regime in the sensitive Middle East."
Move Toward Détente
Faisal Raza Khan, a political analyst and senior journalist with Pakistan's 92 News TV channel, says the new government in Islamabad will move toward reducing tensions in its relations with neighboring countries despite the headwinds.
"Imran Khan's comments about the expansion of ties with Iran come at a time when US President Donald Trump has asked some regional countries to align themselves with White House anti-Iran policies," he told IRNA.
Pakistan's new leadership plans to introduce major changes to the country's foreign policy, he said.
Tough Task
A commentary published by Eurasia Review on August 10 argues that Khan faces a tough task ahead persuading Iran and Saudi Arabia to stop their hostilities, in part due to the fact that some of his nominees for key posts have spoken against increasing ties with the Arab oil kingdom.
It quoted Khan's pick for defense minister, Shireen Mazari, as saying that Islamabad should not cooperate with Riyadh's pursuit of a US agenda and instead forge closer ties with neighboring states such as Iran.
"[The] US always speaks about promoting democracy, but it supports an entirely different policy in the Middle East. We should review our foreign policy as Saudi Arabia is acting on a specific agenda. Pakistan should not become party to this agenda, and we should establish cordial relations with all neighbors like India, Iran and Afghanistan," Mazari reportedly said.
Negative Coverage
Some articles published in western media have been trying to portray Pakistan's incoming prime minister in a negative light.
The Washington Post's editorial board recently wrote that Khan is a Taliban sympathizer and that if he takes office, he will help the army and its powerful intelligence service pursue their interests, which include "siphoning off the lion's share of the national budget, supporting the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan and encouraging other extreme Islamist groups."
In an opinion piece published in the New York Times, the authors portrayed Imran Khan as a "a legendary cricket player and international sex symbol", asking whether Pakistan under Khan would be "an Islamic republic with nuclear weapons".
