UK, Turkey & Saudi pitched in with WhatsApp diplomacy, says Pakistan minister Ishaq Dar …

New Delhi: After India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Ishaq Dar in an interview to Pakistani news channel GeoTV said, “(Army chief) Asim Munir had a huge contribution to ceasefire talks”, along with UK’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, with whom extensive talks were held in the past 24 hours. “We jointly agreed [on ceasefire] but obviously, these countries were involved. This background diplomacy, WhatsApp diplomacy, has been going on today,” Dar said. He added: “COAS Asim Munir had a huge role to play in the discussions along with PM Shehbaz Sharif.” Dar further added that the ceasefire between Pakistan and India was “full-fledged”, not a partial one and would apply “all across, everywhere”. India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said a ceasefire was established between the two neighbours at 1700 hours IST (4:30pm PKT). “The DGMO of Pakistan called DGMO of India at 15:35 hours (3:05pm PKT) earlier this afternoon. It was agreed between them that both sides would stop all firing and military action on land, air and sea with effect from 1700 hours IST (4:30pm PKT),” he said during a press briefing.
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