As President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled a 20-point blueprint this week to end the two-year war in Gaza, capitals across the Muslim world moved quickly to register their positions — some cautious, some enthusiastic. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif surprised observers by publicly “welcoming” the plan and praising Trump’s leadership. That fleeting warmth from Islamabad is being read in some quarters as an opening: can Pakistan now be nudged — or pressured — into abandoning a decades-old official posture of non-recognition and move toward normalization under the umbrella of an expanded Abraham Accords era?

The question is not idle. For Washington, the diplomatic payoff of another Muslim-majority state joining a US-led coalition of normalizers would be huge: it would fortify a picture of Arab-Muslim pragmatism aligned with Israeli security needs, strengthen geopolitical ties in South Asia, and undercut Iran’s regional narrative. For Islamabad, the calculus is treacherous. Pakistan’s long-standing policy has been rooted in principled (and populist) support for Palestinian self-determination; any overture toward Israel risks a volcanic domestic backlash and ruptures with influential partners in the Muslim world. Recent headlines suggest Pakistan’s leadership now faces an acid test — to act and be rewarded with place and privilege, or to refuse and reveal the limits of its partnership with a resurgent Trump administration.

But why is this moment different — and why might pressure via op-eds and strategic public diplomacy work? First, Trump’s plan is not simply another statement of interest; it is accompanied by visible personal diplomacy (including public praise for Pakistan’s leaders while standing beside Netanyahu) and promises of economic inducements. That combination of public........

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