Will Pakistan cut diplomatic ties with Qatar on Saudi Arabia directions
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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has no immediate plans to cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, Foreign Office spokesperson said on Monday.
The country “has no such plans,” the spokesperson, Nafees Zakaria, said, following Monday’s surprise severing of ties with Qatar by Islamabad’s key ally, Saudi Arabia, and three other Middle East nations.
“At the moment there is nothing on Qatar issue, (we) will issue a statement if some development takes place,” Zakaria said. Pakistan, which has a significant Shia population, has in recent years been caught between the feud between its Sunni ally, Saudi Arabia, and Shia majority neighbour Iran.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates announced on Monday they were severing diplomatic ties with Qatar, as they accused the Gulf state of supporting terrorism.
Saudi news agency SPA said Riyadh cut diplomatic ties and closed borders with its neighbour to “protect its national security from the dangers of terrorism and extremism”.
Severing ties with Qatar not solution to regional crisis – Iran
A senior Iranian official said on Monday the decision by some Gulf Arab states and Egypt to sever diplomatic ties with Qatar would not help end the crisis in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Yemen and Egypt accused Qatar of supporting terrorism, opening up the worst rift in years among some of the most powerful states in the Arab world.
“The era of cutting diplomatic ties and closing borders is over… it is not a way to resolve crisis. These countries have no other option but to start regional dialogue,” Hamid Aboutalebi, deputy chief of staff of Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, tweeted on Monday.
