New Delhi: In a determined try and revive its faltering diplomacy, Pakistan has now pinned its hopes on Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to mediate peace talks with India.
Talking at a ceremony in Islamabad marking Italy’s Nationwide Day, Pakistan’s Data Minister Ataullah Tarar hailed Italy as a “trusted peace builder” and insisted that if Meloni steps in as a mediator, a long-lasting peace deal between India and Pakistan may lastly emerge.
However the actuality on the bottom paints a really totally different image.
Pakistan, for years, has dabbled in peace overtures, solely to sabotage talks with terror assaults and inflammatory rhetoric. With its diplomatic isolation deepening and financial disaster worsening, Islamabad now seems to be greedy at straws and hoping {that a} European intermediary can by some means bail it out.
Tarar spoke warmly concerning the long-standing 75-year relationship between Pakistan and Italy, expressing hopes to deepen ties in areas like commerce, funding, safety, schooling and migration. He identified that commerce between the 2 nations has now surpassed the $1 billion milestone, with extra Italian firms establishing store in Pakistan.
Italy, he added, has turn out to be a preferred alternative for a lot of Pakistani college students, particularly these attending well-known establishments reminiscent of Rome’s La Sapienza College.
However regardless of all these constructive developments on paper, the larger actuality stays unchanged – Pakistan’s ongoing failure to take severe motion in opposition to terror teams working inside its borders continues to solid an extended shadow over any progress.
India’s calls for for a terror-free atmosphere have been repeatedly ignored by Islamabad, making any peace speak makes an attempt seem hole.
Pakistan’s attraction to Italy additionally highlights its rising diplomatic isolation from conventional allies. Whereas it courts Europe, its important supporters have quietly distanced themselves attributable to its involvement in cross-border terrorism.
As Pakistan seems to be west for a peace answer, actual peace can solely come when it stops exporting terror and confronts its personal militancy. Any hopes, till then, pinned on Italy’s mediation appear extra like a political stunt than a severe effort.