Pakistan has a unique, multidimensional presence in the ME. It is a member of the Board of Peace in Gaza, is mediating between the US and Iran in the Gulf war, is assisting Iran wherever it can, and is simultaneously defending KSA from hostile attacks from the Red Sea–Gulf of Aden–Bab el Mandab complex, Yemen, and from across the Persian Gulf. It is also being viewed as a potential net stabiliser and net security provider in the region as more Gulf Arab states approach it for defence relationships. If manifested, it is bound to have very serious strategic ramifications. It will seriously test Pakistan’s diplomatic dexterity, resolve, resources, and perseverance in pursuit of its multifarious commitments. Pakistan therefore must strike a critical balance in its approach to the divergent, often conflicting imperatives of the ME’s erratic, unpredictable, unforgiving geopolitics!

Pakistan needs deep analytical thinking, incisive policy formulation, critical decision-making, and well-crafted diplomacy to cross such a Rubicon, if at all. Primarily, it must determine and secure its vital national interests in this volatile geopolitical-geostrategic imbroglio. It must therefore articulate an unambiguous strategic direction, a compatible, well-defined, achievable policy end state, and practical ways to attain its strategic objectives/end state. One, in pursuance of the SMDA, it could deploy a well-equipped, balanced force in the ME to create a centre of power that eventually expands and transforms into a veritable centre of gravity of the region. Two, it could also act........

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