A Pakistani Americans delegation visited Israel last week apparently to promote Israeli-Pakistani relations.
The visit was sponsored by a pro-Israel civil group Sharaka ("Partnership" in Arabic) established in 2020 after the signing of The Abraham Accords and recognition of Israel by the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Sharaka works for connecting Israel with Gulf countries. Presently it has three operational divisions located in Israel, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.
Open source intelligence (OSINT), "the delegation met top Israeli leadership including Israeli President. Some 'famous' faces from Pakistani media fraternity are also part of the delegation. Some even work for state media."
Tellingly, the Pakistani Americans delegation included Ahmed Qureshi who happens to be employee of the official Pakistan TV.
The former Minister of Human Rights, Dr. Shireen Mazari tweeted in Urdu: I am not astonished to see Ahmad Qureshi in Israel because he is not only working for PTV but also but also has contacts with sensitive departments. He is promoting pro-Israeli agenda for more than one year while criticizing independent foreign policy of Imran Khan (the former Prime Minister). This shows that this is a different government (of Mian Shehbaz Sharif who replaced Imran Khan after a controversial vote of no confidence apparently maneuvered by the United States).
Not surprisingly, Imran Khan has repeated said that his government was ousted by the United States for his independent foreign policy. He also said that India and Israel were very happy over his ouster.
Earlier this month, Rebecca Grant, US National Security & Military analyst, said that the US had a role to play in ousting Imran Khan through the vote of no confidence."
FOX News anchor asked Rebecca what message she would give to Pakistan which is a nuclear power and has a big army. In her response, Rebecca said Pakistan needs to support Ukraine. They would also need to end all their agreements with Russia and also should stop seeking any future deals with Russia. Rebecca also said that Pakistan needs to limit its involvement with China.
She said that Pakistan also needs to end anti-US policies which are part of the reasons Imran Khan had been voted out of the prime minister's office a few weeks ago. Hence it's time that Pakistan should end anti-USA policies and end its dealings with Russia.
Rebecca Grant is president of IRIS Independent Research, specializing in defense and aerospace research and consulting.
There are several independent reports in international media about the assignment given by Washington to the new government in Islamabad that includes, among others, no tilt towards Russia, cool relations with China and close relations with India.
The new government in Islamabad has already restored trade ties with India which Imran Khan severed when India annexed the disputed Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019. He also withdrew Pakistan ambassador to India.
On Israel, Imran Khan has repeated said that Pakistan will not recognize Israel. In a press interview In November 2020, Imran Khan revealed that he had been under pressure from some "friendly" countries to establish diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv. Although he did not name them despite being asked repeatedly whether the pressure is from Muslim or non-Muslim countries, many believe he indirectly pointed to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). "Leave this [question]. There are things we cannot say. We have good relations with them," Khan had said.
Tellingly, Pakistan is the only Muslim nuclear power and its long range missiles are capable to hit targets Israel and beyond. Hence this is not a news that Pakistan's nuclear assets were target of Israel. In 1979, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin launched a letter writing campaign in an attempt to convince Western leaders to clamp-down on the Pakistani program.
Bharat Karnad, senior Fellow in National Security Studies at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, and author of, 'Nuclear Weapons and Indian Security: The Realist Foundations of Strategy' wrote about an Israeli plan to attack on Pakistan's nuclear installations in Kahuta in 1982. The plan involved Israeli F-16 fighters carrying bombs and F-15 air superiority aircraft providing air defense to the attacking aircraft. Karnad claimed the Israeli aircraft would launch from Udhampur. Karnad wrote the information about the operation came from retired Israeli major-general Aharon Yaariv, who told him "Indira Gandhi had first approved of an Israeli strike on the Pakistani uranium enrichment centrifuge complex in Kahuta in 1982 with Indian help but called off the raid just before it got under way."
According to Karnad, this was the last time India had the chance credibly to stop Pakistan from crossing the N-weapons threshold. Predictably, we fluffed it Indira losing her nerve. Or, perhaps, because Washington got wind of the mission and pressured Indira into halting it.
