Days after US President Donald Trump praised the Pakistani leadership for supporting the Gaza peace deal, Islamabad has denied backing Washington’s ’20-point’ proposal to end the war between Israel and Hamas. According to Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, the 20-point Gaza plan that Trump announced this week was not in line with the draft proposed by a group of Muslim-majority countries in Washington.
“Changes were made in the plan,” Dar told Pakistani lawmakers in parliament on Friday.
“I have made it clear that these 20 points, which Trump has made public, are not ours. These are not the same as ours. I say that some changes have been made in it, in the draft we had.”
Trump’s Plan And Big Praise For Pakistan
Pakistan’s open support for Trump’s peace plan has attracted massive outrage at home. The plan proposed by Trump mandates Hamas, the Palestinian group that rules Gaza, to disarm. The plan proposes that Gaza would be run by a “Board of Peace” chaired by the American President himself.
The plan outlines an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages and a phased transition to a new administrative setup for Gaza after the conflict.
Donald Trump’s move represents his administration’s most direct intervention so far, amid growing pressure to help end the conflict that has claimed thousands of lives since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel – an assault the US President has condemned as a “massacre.”
Announcing his plan last week, Trump claimed he had the backing of both Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir “100 per cent”.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also welcomed it and called for the implementation of the two-state solution.
“I am also convinced that durable peace between the Palestinian people and Israel would be essential in bringing political stability and economic growth to the region,” Shrif said in a post on X on Sunday night.
