Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has postponed a visit to Switzerland for a US-Iran ceremony because their agreement on ending the Middle East war had been signed remotely, his spokesman told AFP on Thursday.
“The proposed visit has been postponed as the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding has already been electronically signed, has entered into force, and is now under implementation,” spokesman Mosharraf Zaidi said, adding Pakistan would support the next phase of several “technical-level” tracks.
Until this week, Pakistani officials had expected a formal ceremony in the Swiss resort of Bürgenstock attended by Sharif, Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Information Minister Attaullah Tarar.
The agreement follows a conflict that began in February when the US and Israel launched their war on Iran, assassinating the 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and military leaders on the first day.
It quickly spiraled into a regional conflict that has killed more than 7,000 people, mostly in Iran and Lebanon, driven up energy prices, renewed inflationary pressures and sparked concerns about a major food supply crisis in developing countries.
