Image Credit: twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI, indiatvnews.com
Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s former special assistant on overseas Pakistani’s, Sayed Zulfi Bukhari secretly visited Israel last year, according to a report by Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom. Bukhari, who is a British national of Pakistani origin, visited Israel last November to meet the then Mossad chief Yossi Choen and some foreign ministry officials, the report added.
Bukhari reportedly conveyed a message from Pakistan’s PM to officials from the Israeli foreign ministry while another message was conveyed to the chief of Mossad from Pakistan’s army chief General Qamar Bajwa. Israel Hayom further added that the special assistant to Imran Khan travelled from Islamabad to Tel Aviv via London.
The indirect meeting between the two countries happened due to the “heavy pressure” imposed by the UAE. Most Muslim countries including Pakistan don’t share diplomatic relations with Israel due to the Israel-Palestine conflict. However, a bunch of Muslim countries -UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan established diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020 under the ‘Abraham Accords’ which were facilitated by the US.
The Abraham Accords and many reports of an indirect meeting between Israeli and Pakistani officials have triggered a debate in the neighbouring country with regards to the normalisation of relations with the Jewish majority country. PM Khan had said last year that his country couldn’t accept the existence of Israel until a settlement happens and the Palestinians get their rights.
The last public contact between Pakistan and Israel took place in September 2005 when under General Musharraf’s lead, Pakistan’s foreign minister met his Israeli counterpart in Istanbul, Turkey.