Pakistan’s decision to join Trump’s ‘Peace Board’ draws mixed reactions

Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday defended Pakistan’s decision to join US President Donald Trump’s “Peace Board” amid criticism that called the move “reckless” and “indefensible.”

The measure was announced today by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Other countries that have accepted the invitation to join the board include Indonesia, Israel, Turkiye, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. The proposed board would be chaired for life by Trump and would initially focus on the Gaza conflict before expanding its mandate to other wars. Member countries would have to pay a fee of $1 billion to secure permanent membership.

Speaking about the topic in an interview in capital talk Speaking on a private news station, the Defense Minister said that the gathering of countries invited to the board was large and that Pakistan should be a part of any such grouping and its conclusions.

“There is a greater possibility that we will be irrelevant in any decision that is decided if we remain absent from this forum. If we are present there, we will be better able to raise our voice for our Palestinian brothers.”

He said Gaza would be the central foreign policy issue discussed on the platform. “Pakistan should fully utilize this forum,” Asif added.

The comments came after criticism from other politicians, including Senate opposition leader Allama Raja Nasir, who denounced the government’s decision as “morally wrong and indefensible, both in principle and policy.”

As for X, the senator said the initiative was problematic from the beginning. “Conceived as an externally managed deal for post-war Gaza, it effectively deprives the Palestinian people themselves of the right to govern,” he said.

“By putting reconstruction, security, and political oversight in the hands of outside actors, the project bears the unmistakable imprint of a neocolonial enterprise. Such frameworks rarely end up in the administration. Trump’s initiative will, over time, erode the very right to self-determination it claims to safeguard.”

Senator Nasir expressed particular concern over Pakistan’s participation. “What makes Pakistan’s involvement more worrying is that an initiative initially sold as a limited mechanism for reconstruction after the genocide in Gaza is now openly expanding. The statements of its main sponsor and the content of its draft letter suggest ambitions far beyond Palestine, with little regard for the United Nations. The absence of clear UN oversight and the junta’s increasingly broad mandate point towards an attempt to supplant, or at least marginalize, the existing multilateral system.”

He added that by lending its name to the project, “Pakistan appears to be endorsing a structure that sidelines the UN and replaces international law with a customized political platform. This is at odds with Islamabad’s own dependence on multilateral forums and UN resolutions, particularly on issues like Kashmir, where Pakistan consistently upholds the primacy of international legality.”

The leader of the opposition in the Senate further criticized the apparent inconsistency of Pakistan’s foreign policy. “Pakistan cannot credibly defend the centrality of the UN when it suits its interests while engaging in initiatives that weaken the institution elsewhere. This alignment also does not serve the Palestinian cause, which has always been based on the principles of self-determination and UN-backed legitimacy, not externally imposed governance models.”

He concluded by warning of long-term consequences: “Foreign policy decisions driven by short-term calculations often produce long-lasting consequences. By associating itself with a project that undermines both the Palestinian agency and the UN system, Pakistan risks diluting its moral standing and strategic coherence. It is a decision Pakistan will regret.”

Jamaat-e-Islami chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said he rejected the government’s move.

“Trump’s Peace Council is a new form of colonialism, which includes criminals like Tony Blair, who were responsible for the destruction of Iraq. The Peace Council is a new system aimed at seizing Palestinian land and resources. The US occupation of Gaza under the pretext of reconstruction is unacceptable.

“The stance taken by Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry – that Pakistan announced its support for the Gaza peace plan under a United Nations Security Council resolution – is contrary to the facts. Trump himself has stated that his Peace Board could one day replace the United Nations. After such a position by Trump, what justification is there for Pakistan’s participation in this board? Once again we state very clearly that Pakistan’s armed forces should not, under any circumstances, be sent to Gaza.”

Former UN envoy and ambassador Maleeha Lodhi called the move a “reckless decision for many reasons.”

Former Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari echoed his views on the move.

Former senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said the decision to join without any public debate or input from Parliament “smacks of the indifference this regime has towards the Pakistani nation.”