Dar to meet US Secretary of State Rubio tomorrow

ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar would meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on July 25 (tomorrow), diplomatic sources in Islamabad and Washington confirmed to The News.

While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is reluctant to confirm publicly, State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce told the media on Wednesday, that senior officials from Pakistan and the US will be having a bilateral meeting in which she too, will be present with other senior officials.

The agenda will include a review of Pakistan-US ties, regional developments, particularly recent Pakistan-India tensions and other matters of mutual interest.

When Tammy Bruce was asked by a Pakistani journalist whether the US supports direct communication between Pakistan and India on Kashmir, as it does on the Indus Waters Treaty, the State Department spokesperson responded in a diplomatic tone but did not give further details about the meeting.

On Kashmir, she evaded a direct response except to say, “We have Pakistan who is going to be here for a bilateral and I’ll be participating in the meeting and I am looking forward to that too.”

Earlier, President Trump had during his visit to Saudi Arabia acknowledged Kashmir as a long-standing, unresolved issue and offered to help mediate a solution, a move Pakistan welcomed immediately. India rejected the offer.

This will be Dar’s first in-person official meeting with Secretary Rubio, though both have spoken on telephone several times.

They last spoke on May 10, following his call with Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir. Rubio had telephoned Ishaq Dar where they discussed the current situation at the time in South Asia following India’s attacks on Pakistan and Pakistan’s response.

Meanwhile, observers in South Asia have lost count of the number of times that President Trump has raised the issue of how he stopped Pakistan and India from going into a nuclear war. Some say that Wednesday morning was the 27th since May this year. On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump claimed yet again that he stopped the recent “war” between India and Pakistan and that five planes were shot down in the conflict.

He also claimed that the conflict between India and Pakistan “was probably going to end up in a nuclear war”.

“We stopped wars between India and Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda,” he said at a reception in the White House with the Congress members.

“They shot down five planes and it was back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. I called them and said, ‘Listen, no more trade. If you do this, you’re not going to be good…They’re both powerful nuclear nations and that would have happened, and who knows where that would have ended up. And I stopped it’,” he added.

Meanwhile, DPM Dar, while speaking at the reception on the occasion of Pakistan’s Presidency of the UN Security Council said that at the core of Pakistan’s foreign policy is its firm commitment to multilateralism and the United Nations.

“The purposes and principles enshrined in the UN Charter, especially peaceful settlement of disputes and non-use or threat of force are foundational to the UN. They are indispensable for a just international order,” he said.

He pointed out that global peace and security can only be achieved through multilateralism, peaceful settlement of disputes, inclusive dialogue and respect for international law.

Pakistan, he underlined, is a leading voice in the global climate and development discourse – from the General Assembly to the ECOSOC and elsewhere.

“Pakistan has championed the strengthening of the three pillars of the United Nations – peace and security, development and human rights and supported reform of the United Nations to make our organisation stronger, more effective and more responsive to the interests and priorities of the general membership,” he added.

Pakistan has also presented its candidature for election to the Human Rights Council for the term 2026-28. “Pakistan’s candidature is endorsed by the Asia Pacific Group and we hope to count on your valuable support,” he concluded.