Amid controversial reports that Pakistan was mulling to establish ties with Israel, Pakistani journalist Ahmed Quraishi claimed that Pakistan and Israel are on the “cusp of making their decades-old secret ties public” by the establishment of the diplomatic ties on the official level.
Pakistan has repeatedly denied the existence of ties with Israel and called such reports “baseless”. It says that there will be no normalisation of ties with Tel Aviv till the resolution of the Palestinian issue.
Speaking to an Israeli TV channel, Quraishi said that he knew “for a fact that it was just a matter of time” before the two countries announced the formation of the ties.
“It is a long history that goes back at least quarter of a century,” he said, adding that Islamabad and Tel Aviv have cooperated on international forum even though they do not enjoy official relations.
He said that Pakistan and Israel don’t have any sort of “strategic conflict”, adding that because of the Palestinian issue their relationship is “suffering”. He also called it a “story of missed opportunities”.
In 2005, the governments of both countries “established a very public, formal, political, and diplomatic contact in Ankara” that was mediated by then prime minister of Turkey Tayyip Erdogan.
He said then president Gen Pervez Musharraf also called for a dialogue between the Jewish people and Muslims, adding that it was time to “revive” that.
In response to question, he said Prime Minister Imran Khan is probably open to this idea, but he is caught up in the religious-dominated politics over the past few years. “I think he needs a little push to take this step,” the journalist claimed, adding that this push can from “within the country” or some friendly country can ask him to take this step.
“The PM must be weighing his options, given Pakistan and Israel have same friends –the US, Gulf countries, Turkey, China, Nato, Azerbaijan — and share similar views on many security issues, e.g. Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict,” he added.
In a recent interview with a TV channel, PM Imran denied all reports regarding talks of setting up ties with Israel. “Pakistan will refuse to recognise Israel until Palestinian rights are guaranteed,” he told the interviewer.
“Pakistan is a democratic society — and our entire nation stands with the Palestinians,” he had said, denying reports of a meeting between his adviser and Israeli officials. “Why would anyone go from Pakistan when it’s our policy that we don’t recognize Israel?” he had questioned.
“What’s a minister going to do there? This is absolutely fake news.”
