An adviser to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Israel in lateNovember and discussed moving toward better ties between the countries,which do not have formal relations, two prominent Pakistanis have claimedin recent days.
The claims from a Pakistani counterterror analyst and a UK-based politicalscientist who writes for a Pakistani newspaper have led to a backlash onPakistani social media, with the country’s ruling party wading into thecontroversy to try and deflect blame toward the nation’s former ruler.
Their assertion came days after Israeli daily Israel Hayom reported that atop adviser from an unnamed Muslim-majority country visited Israel in lateNovember for talks.
The claims could not be independently verified.
Noor Dahri, Executive Director of the UK-based Islamic Theology of CounterTerrorism thinktank, detailed the alleged visit in a series of Twitterposts on December 15.linkUS President Donald Trump, right, meets with Pakistani Prime Minister ImranKhan at the InterContinental Barclay hotel during the United NationsGeneral Assembly, Monday, Sept. 23, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
He said an unnamed close aide to Khan, who also has good ties with theTrump administration, was dispatched from Islamabad to Tel Aviv via Londonon November 20. There he supposedly met with several Foreign Ministryofficials and conveyed Khan’s desire for closer relations between the twonations.
Islamabad wants Israel’s support in various international forums, includingimproving relations with Arab countries and its general internationalstanding, Dahri said. But the aide stressed that any warming of ties wouldneed to be “soft” and “slow” due to expected opposition within Pakistan.
Dahri said these overtures were “warmly welcomed” by the Israelis, whoassured the aide they would make efforts on Pakistan’s behalf.
Dahri later told Israel’s i24 News that Pakistan had recently becomeincreasingly isolated and had fallen out with Saudi Arabia and the UnitedArab Emirates over its close ties with Turkey, leading the Arab nations toincrease pressure on Islamabad through demands for debt settling and curbson oil supplies.
In November, the UAE banned issuing work visas for Pakistanis, a harsh blowto Islamabad. Millions of Pakistanis have worked in the UAE in recentyears, sending back home several billion dollars a year.
“Pakistan is now in a very critical situation politically, economically anddiplomatically,” he said.
Dahri’s claim received support from Shama Junejo, a political scientist atthe University of Leicester and a columnist for popular Pakistani paperDaily Khabrain.
“I spoke with Pakistani military sources. They categorically denied… anysuch contact,” Junejo tweetedlink. “However,[Dahri] is absolutely right. I crossed check & My sources also confirmedthe advisor travel to Israel on 20th Nov.”
Dahri also claimed that Pakistani officials had secretly traveled to Israelseveral times in the past, under the administration of former primeminister Nawaz Sharif.
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Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz Sharif, a politician herself, brieflytweeted Dahri’s interview with i24 News before deleting the tweet.
According to i24 News, the supposed normalization process has led to muchanger by Pakistanis on social media.
Khan’s ruling PTI party tweeted: “Maryam Nawaz just exposed her fatherNawaz Sharif. She tweeted a link (then deleted) to the interview of NoorDahri where he says Nawaz Sharif as PM sent 2 delegations to Israel tonormalize relations.”
It did not mention that Dahri also said Khan had done the same.
The reports come as Israel has announced normalization agreements with theUnited Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco in recent months andofficials have indicated that similar moves with other Muslim nations couldbe in the cards.
This is not the first time there has been speculation overIsraeli-Pakistani meetings.
In October 2018, Pakistan denied reports that an Israeli jet had landedlink at an airport in Islamabad.
Israeli journalist Avi Scharf tweeted on Thursday that a private Israelibusiness jet had flown to Islamabad from Tel Aviv and remained in thePakistani capital for nearly 10 hours, fueling media speculation.
Several Pakistani ministers and the Civil Aviation Authority denied thereport.
Though Pakistan has in the past indicated it would be prepared to formalizeits relationship with the Jewish state once there is a peace agreement withthe Palestinians, ties between the two countries are often complicated.
There have been reports of covert contacts between Israeli and Pakistaniofficials, including a WikiLeaks document that indicated that ahigh-ranking official in the Pakistani army met directly with the IsraeliMossad.
Publicly, however, the two nations have little to do with one another.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly canceledlink adinner reservation in 2016 at a New York restaurant to avoid eating at thesame time as Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. – The Times of Israel
