Peace | Pakistan

LONDON: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Saturday that the federal cabinet had approved Pakistan joining the Board of Peace, which is led by US President Donald Trump. A group of leaders and senior officials from 19 countries — including Pakistan — had gathered on stage on Thursday with Trump at a signing ceremony in Davos, Switzerland, to put their names to the founding charter of the body. Originally meant to oversee peace in Gaza after Israel’s two-year bombardment of the Palestinian enclave, the Board of Peace’s charter envisions a wider role in resolving international conflicts. Speaking to the media outside the Pakistan High Commission in London on Saturday, the premier said that he had a “very good trip” to Davos. He said that Pakistan had received an invitation from Trump to join the Board of Peace, adding that he accepted with the approval of the cabinet. “We signed with the hope that there will be peace in Gaza, that Palestinians will receive the respect they deserve, and that Gaza will be reco...

ISLAMABAD: The government on Friday again defended its decision to join the Board of Peace led by US President Donald Trump, with Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal saying that Pakistan being at the “centre stage” along with its brother Muslim countries to contribute towards peace in Gaza and Palestine was a “diplomatic win”. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was among the leaders and senior officials of 19 countries, including Pakistan, who gathered in Davos on Thursday and put their names to the founding charter of the Board of Peace — a move that has been denounced by the opposition. Trump had originally proposed establishing the board when he announced his plan last September to end the onslaught in Gaza. It was originally meant to oversee peace in Gaza after Israel’s two-year onslaught on the Palestinian enclave, but the board’s charter envisions a wider role in resolving international conflicts. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry on Thursday had defended the move in the National Assembly, say...

United States President Donald Trump withdrew on Thursday an invitation for Canada to join his Board of Peace initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts. Trump’s about-face follows Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he openly decried powerful nations using economic integration as weapons and tariffs as leverage. “Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post directed at Carney. Neither Carney’s office nor the White House immediately responded to Reuters’ requests for comment on Thursday evening. Last week, Carney’s office said he had been invited to serve on the board and planned to accept. Carney received a rare standing ovation in Davos after the speech, in which he urged nations to accept the end of a rules-based global order. Canada, which recently s...

Amid an outcry by the opposition in the National Assembly, the government on Thursday defended its decision to join the Board of Peace led by US President Donald Trump, saying it was taken in the interest of the Palestinian people. Originally meant to oversee peace in Gaza after Israel’s two-year war on the Palestinian enclave, the Board of Peace’s charter envisions a wider role in resolving international conflicts. A group of leaders and senior officials from 19 countries — including Pakistan — gathered on stage on Thursday with Trump at a signing ceremony in Davos, Switzerland, to put their names to the founding charter of the body. Speaking in the National Assembly, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said Pakistan had a principled position on the Palestine issue and always raised it at international forums. He said Pakistan’s decision to join the board was guided by national interest and the collective priorities of the Muslim Ummah, not political considerations. He noted that UN Securi...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other world leaders on Thursday signed the charter for the “Board of Peace” headed by United States President Donald Trump, who has billed the body as a platform for resolving international conflicts. Originally meant to oversee peace in Gaza after Israel’s two-year war on the Palestinian enclave, the board’s charter envisions a wider role in resolving international conflicts. A group of leaders and senior officials from 19 countries — including Pakistan — gathered on stage with Trump at a signing ceremony in Davos, Switzerland to put their names to the founding charter of the body. Trump — who is the chairman of the Board of Peace — said they were “in most cases very popular leaders, some cases not so popular”. “That’s the way it goes in life,” he said. “Congratulations, President Trump. The charter is now in full force, and the Board of Peace is now an official international organisation,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “Every one of them are friends of ...

Pakistan and seven other Muslim-majority countries on Wednesday released a statement announcing their decision to join US President Donald Trump’s so-called ‘Board of Peace’. In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Qatar welcomed the invitation “extended to their leaders” by Trump. “The ministers announce their countries’ shared decision to join the Board of Peace. Each country will sign the joining documents according to its respective relevant legal and other necessary procedures, including Egypt, Pakistan, and the UAE, that have already announced to join,” the joint statement said. It should be noted that all eight countries had worked with Trump in October last year on a plan to end Israel’s genocide and invasion in Gaza. The UAE had announced its decision to join the board on Tuesday while Pakistan and Egypt had separately announced it on Wednesday. “The ministers reiterate their countries’ support for the peace efforts l...

US President Donald Trump has invited countries to pay $1 billion in exchange for a permanent seat on a newly proposed initiative known as the “Board of Peace”. The body was initially envisioned as a mechanism to address Israel’s war on Gaza, though its charter does not restrict its mandate solely to the occupied Palestinian territory. Several states have been approached by the US to join the initiative. Pakistan also received an invitation on Sunday. Today, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif accepted the proposal to participate in the initiative with the aim of “achieving lasting peace in Gaza”, according to a statement issued by the Foreign Office (FO). What is the board meant to do? According to AFP, the Board of Peace will be led by Trump under the terms outlined in its founding charter. The document describes it as “an international organisation that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict”. It further states t...

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted an invitation to join US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” aimed at resolving conflicts, Netanyahu’s office said Wednesday. “Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that he has accepted US President Donald Trump’s invitation and will join as a member of the Board of Peace, which will be composed of leaders of the world,” the office said in a statement. The board was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of post-war Gaza, but its charter seen by AFP does not appear to limit its role to the Palestinian territory, and members have to pay up to $1 billion for a permanent spot on it. The board “seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict”, reads the preamble of the charter sent to countries invited to participate. It will be chaired by Trump himself, who will also “separately serve” as the representative of the United States. Dozens of countries and leaders...

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump suggested on Tuesday that his proposed “Board of Peace” might one day replace the United Nati­o­ns, which he described as “not very helpful”, as he marked the first anniversary of his second term in office at the White House. Speaking for more than an hour before taking questions from reporters, Trump said the UN had potential but added that he had never considered turning to the organisation to help resolve conflicts. Asked whether his envisioned Board of Peace could supplant the UN, he replied that it “might”. Earlier in the day, Tru­mp released a list of what he described as major achi­e­vements from his first year back in office, highlighting what he portrayed as successes in both domestic and foreign policy. Public opinion polls released around the same time showed growing voter dissatisfaction with the administration’s immigration policies. Against that backdrop, the first 15 minutes of Trump’s appearance in the White House briefing room appeared aimed at reshaping ...

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Belarus on Tuesday joined US President Donald Trump’s newly proposed Board of Peace. The UAE’s foreign ministry said it had accepted an invitation to join the board. It added that the country stood ready to contribute actively to the mission of the Board of Peace, supporting greater cooperation, stability, and prosperity for all, marking Abu Dhabi’s formal alignment with Washington’s new conflict-resolution effort. Bahrain’s foreign ministry said it had accepted Trump’s invitation to the Board of Peace as a founding member. Separately, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko signed an agreement to join the Board of Peace. A presidential Telegram channel published a video of Lukashenko signing the document, and quoted him as saying he hoped to contribute towards peace in Ukraine. Trump had originally proposed establishing the Board when he announced his plan last September to end the conflict in Gaza. But an invitation sent to world leaders last week outlines a bro...

• Kazakh, Uzbek leaders ready to join; Moscow weighs ‘nuances’ • Starmer pledges UK support for Gaza reconstruction efforts • Israeli minister issues ‘us or them’ ultimatum to Netanyahu MOSCOW: The White House on Monday extended invitations to leaders from Russia, Poland and Israel to join a so-called “Board of Peace” which aims to address global conflicts and manage governance and reconstruction efforts in Gaza. While others weigh participation, Central Asian leaders moved quickly to accept. The press secretaries of Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev confirmed their leaders’ readiness to join the board. Both leaders have been courted by Trump, who invited them to the G20 summit in Miami. Meanwhile, the Kremlin said on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin received an invitation to join the board, which would be chaired by Trump. “President Putin also received an invitation to join this Board of Peace,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists...

US President Donald Trump’s government has asked countries to pay $1 billion for a permanent spot on his “Board of Peace” aimed at resolving conflicts, according to US media reports. The White House has asked various world leaders to sit on the board, chaired by Trump himself, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban and Canada’s Mark Carney. Member countries — represented on the board by their head of state — would be allowed to join for three years, or longer if they contributed more than $1 billion within the first year, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the sum. “Each member state shall serve a term of no more than three years from this charter’s entry into force, subject to renewal by the chairman,” stated the board’s draft charter obtained by Bloomberg and other media. “The three-year membership term shall not apply to member states that contribute more than USD $1,000,000,000 in cash funds to the Board of Peace within the first...

ISLAMABAD - The United States has formally invited Pakistan to join President Donald Trump’s proposed “Board of Peace on Gaza” as Washington advances the next phase of its diplomatic initiative aimed at stabilising the war-ravaged Palestinian territory, the Foreign Office said yesterday.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has been invited to be a part of the Gaza “Board of Peace” that is being formed by United States President Donald Trump, the Foreign Office has said. “The prime minister of Pakistan has received the invitation from the president of the United States to join the Board of Peace on Gaza,” said FO spokesperson Tahir Andrabi in response to media queries. “Pakistan will remain engaged with international efforts for peace and security in Gaza, leading to a lasting solution to the Palestine issue in accordance with United Nations resolutions,” he added. The so-called “Board of Peace” has begun to take shape as the US moves on to the second phase of Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza, which stands decimated after two years of Israel’s bombardment. Trump had already declared himself the chair of the body, as he promotes a controversial vision of economic development in the Palestinian territory. The United States has invited the heads of around 60 states to join the Board of Peace, including those...

United States President Donald Trump has invited Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to become part of the Gaza Board of Peace, a body being formed to address the ongoing crisis in the Palestinian territory.

US President Donald Trump’s so-called “Board of Peace” for post-war Gaza began to take shape on Saturday, with the leaders of Egypt, Turkiye, Argentina and Canada asked to join. The announcements from those leaders came after the US president named his Secretary of State Marco Rubio, former British prime minister Tony Blair, and senior negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to the panel. Trump had already declared himself the chair of the body, as he promotes a controversial vision of economic development in the Palestinian territory, which lies in rubble after two-plus years of relentless Israeli bombardment. The moves came after a Palestinian committee of technocrats meant to govern Gaza held its first meeting in Cairo which was attended by Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law who has partnered with Witkoff for months on the issue. In Canada, a senior aide to Prime Minister Mark Carney said he intended to accept Trump’s invitation, while in Turkiye, a spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he had bee...

MUZAFFARABAD/ISLAMABAD/LAHORE - Peace and normalcy was restored in Azad Jammu and Kashmir following agreement between the government and Joint Action Committee on Saturday.

The leader of a peace committee and two of his companions were shot dead by terrorists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat district on Sunday, according to police officials. The incident reflects the escalating militant presence in Lakki Marwat, where attacks have become more frequent in recent months despite ongoing efforts by local peace committees to maintain order and resist terrorist influence. Shahid Khan, a spokesperson for Lakki Marwat police, told Dawn.com that the head of the Shahab Khel peace committee was heading to Qabol Khel when he was attacked in the Kara Wanda area. “The peace committee chief Ghulam Dastagir alias Fauji and his friends Saleem Khan and Salahuddin were killed,” Shahid told Dawn.com. “A search operation was launched in the area after the incident.” Peace committee officials in KP have been targeted in the past by terrorists. In April, there were two incidents targeting peace committees, one of which was in Lakki Marwat. On April 29, a fierce gun battle was reported between memb...