Pakistan, Qatar review security cooperation amid regional diplomacy

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Monday met Qatar's Minister of Interior and Commander of the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya), Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad, to review bilateral security cooperation and discuss ways to further strengthen collaboration between the two countries.

According to a statement issued by Qatar's Ministry of Interior, Sheikh Khalifa received the Pakistani interior minister at the ministry's headquarters in Doha, where the two sides reviewed existing cooperation in the security sector.

The ministers discussed measures to further enhance bilateral collaboration and exchanged views on a range of issues of mutual interest, the statement said.

The meeting took place against the backdrop of heightened tensions in the Middle East following the US-Iran conflict, during which Pakistan and Qatar have intensified diplomatic efforts aimed at promoting dialogue and regional stability.

Over the past several days, Islamabad and Doha have increased the exchange of messages between Washington and Tehran after both sides conveyed their responses to a jointly proposed framework designed to help end months of hostilities.

Earlier, Pakistan and Qatar jointly presented a de-escalation proposal urging the United States and Iran to return to their pre-July 9 positions as an initial confidence-building measure to revive negotiations aimed at securing a lasting settlement to the conflict.

According to officials familiar with the initiative, the proposal was drafted following consultations with regional partners and called on both sides to roll back to the positions they held before the latest escalation in hostilities, paving the way for renewed diplomatic engagement.