The current spreading of propaganda that Pakistan had granted her air space to the United States so that it could attack the Iran Iranian nuclear facilities is not only groundless, but it also shows some form of a calculated disinformation effort to discredit the foreign policy conduct of Pakistan and its uncompromising attempt to bring peace in the region. This misleading story disagrees with not only the geographical reasoning but also disregards some elementary strategic and military facts. A more critical look reveals the outright absurdity of these assertions and proves them products of quadrate conspiracy theories and not of plausible intelligence or factual reporting.
Even someone with the most basic knowledge of regional geography would understand instantly that Pakistan has no air space that is necessary to the United States to pursue an action against the Iranian installations. Iran has a long aquatic southern coast of above 1800 kilometres, to the waters of the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman. This gives direct access by the US planes via the sea especially those found on aircraft carriers or military bases in friendly countries around the Gulf region. As a matter of fact, USA has air bases and supporting systems in places like the United Arab Emirates Qatar and Oman patches these are much shorter and direct routes with much more logistic capability, instead of flying over Pakistan. One should also identify the unique character of the assets in such operations.
B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is among the latest and most state of art military planes the United States has vehicles that have been specifically designed to pass through the well defended air space of the enemy planes without being identified. Most modern radar cannot detect these bombers, and they can fly intercontinental distances without fuelling in flight. Consequently, the vexed speculative questions regarding certain flight paths that could have been used during this kind of mission are pointless and ultimately deceptive considering that no serious data or radar facts are in circulation, to back up these wild accusations. The stealth feature of these bombers makes it quite futile and sensationalist to speculate on the route of these bombers. Indeed, there is no nation in the region or indeed the whole world, that has the capacity to pick up the B-2 without a doubt particularly when these planes are flying at high altitudes and in operational formats.
Such speculation has been clearly geared towards pulling Pakistan towards a tangled geopolitical conflict that the country has been strenuous to evade. When recently Pakistan sent out its Foreign Minister General Asim Munir on a high profile visit to Washington one of the main points of the agenda according to the sources was to persuade that the US is not to be embroiled in the rather unstable conflict between Israel and Iran. Being very worried about the increase in the human cost and the destabilisation of the region. Pakistan also emphasized its principled stand against the use of military means and favoured instead de-escalation using diplomatic means.
The mission of FM Munir was not only signifying the desire and trust of Pakistan in achieving peace, but it also reflected on the growing confidence of the nation in the making of the global diplomatic discourse. The moral stand of Pakistan is clear and consistent, the kind of suffering which is being meted out to the people of Iran by unilateral military intercession mainly by the world powers and their allies in the region such as Israel is unacceptable. Pakistani leadership has shown intense sorrow and sympathized with the people of Iran in general and now a days aggression cannot be done in any form but more commonly in this sensitive area it will only trigger the already existing tensions and will destroy the tranquillity efforts together.
Noticeably at the same time when President Trump was announcing the strikes an additional statement that accompanied them contained a very enjoyable twist, a notable request to tone down and go back to the peaceful resolution. The change of rhetoric indicates a huge softening of his previously stronger position and can with a reasonable degree of possibility be explained by the silent but intense diplomatic activity of Pakistan particularly the activities of FM Munir. One should realize that diplomacy and principled condemnation are not mutually exclusive but rather are complementary means of the foreign policy. Such a twofold policy exercised by Pakistan was a product of one principle only its adherence to the principles of international law state sovereignty in the region and peaceful settling of international conflicts. Not being contradictory. The stance of Pakistan demonstrates a deep and mature approach to international relations as moral clarity and practical politics are the two sides of the same coin. Thus, critics who refer to such apparent contradiction in the Pakistani attitude are either not taking this context into account or distorting it deliberately.
One more ridiculous part of the ongoing propaganda story is the negative reference to the fact that the Pakistani government even nominated the President Trump to be the Nobel Peace Prize winsome vitalization against a scene of his authorization of air strikes not long ago. This is once again a conscious manipulation of facts. The nomination was made a day earlier before the strikes were executed and was given on a different context i.e. Trump had played a crucial role in cooling down a situation that took a near war shape in between India and Pakistan in May earlier this year. His intervention at the time assisted in averting a disastrous de-escalation which would have precipitated international consequences. A nomination of Pakistan was not an endorsement of larger foreign policy of Trump but an acknowledgment of particular action that had helped with bringing stability to the region.
In addition, the deliberate diplomatic gesture of Nobel nomination was no doubt a strategic step as well a step that should further propel dialogue as well as peaceful reconciliation in the case of the increasingly deteriorating Iran Israel situation. Through this public acknowledgment of the earlier contribution of Trump to peace. Pakistan was first exerting moral and political pressure to change the attitude of the US President to be more accommodating. It is interesting to note that Trump was restrained in his statement on the day of the air strikes focusing on a course towards finding a diplomatic resolution and such pressure might have brought the desired result.
