ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Imran Khan’s offer to play a mediator’s role is expected to get a good response from Yemen, Iran and Saudi Arabia in the coming days, diplomats said.

The offer, the diplomats said, was aimed at making peace among the Muslims which will be supported by the Ummah (Muslim nation).

PM Imran Khan in his address to the nation yesterday announced that Pakistan will try to play the role of a mediator in the Yemen war involving Saudi Arabia.

“One more thing I want to share with my Pakistanis is that we are acting as a mediator in the ongoing crisis of Yemen. We are playing a positive role in mediating matters so as to unite the Muslim World,” he said.

Yemeni Ambassador to Pakistan Mohammed Motahar Alashabi did not comment immediately on Imran Khan’s offer. “I have to contact my government over the issue. I can’t comment right now,” he told The Nation.

Diplomats, however, said PM Khan’s offer was a win-win proposal for all the parties. “Neither Saudi Arabia wants war nor the Yemenis. Iran too will support peace efforts. It will be good for the Muslims,” a senior diplomat said.

In the recent past, Iran had accused that Pakistan was supporting the ‘Sunni-alliance’ allegedly formed to target Shia Muslims rather than terrorists. The alliance was formed by Saudi Arabia in December 2015 with its headquarters in Riyadh.

Pakistan delayed approval to Raheel Sharif – considering Iran’s objections - for several months before finally giving a nod to the former army chief.

Pakistan had allowed Raheel Sharif to command the Saudi Arabia-led military alliance of several Muslim states after a request from Riyadh. The alliance has its headquarters in Riyadh.

Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Mehdi Honardoost had said the Saudi Arabia-led military alliance did not have the necessary ingredients of an alliance.

“From the very beginning of its inception there have been a number of ambiguities about they have persisted so far. Saudi authorities have announced that objective of that alliance been fight against terrorism. While Iran, Iraq and Syria the main victims of terrorism are not part of that alliance,” he had told The Nation in the interview.

In 2016, Pakistan was active to ease Iran-Saudi Arabia tensions after Saudi Arabia executed 47 people on terrorism charges including Nimr al-Nimr, a Shia religious leader, and Fares Al-Shuwail Al-Zahrani, a convicted Al-Qaeda leader.

Nimr’s execution spurred Iranian demonstrators into ransacking the Saudi embassy in Tehran, prompting several Saudi allies to break off diplomatic ties with Iran.

The Houthi movement emerged from Sa’dah in northern Yemen in the 1990s. They are of the Zaidi sect, and are predominantly Zaidi-Shia-led, though the movement reportedly also includes Sunnis.

Under the leadership of Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, the group emerged as a Zaydi opposition to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, whom they charged with massive financial corruption and criticized for being backed by Saudi Arabia and the United States at the expense of the Yemeni people and Yemen’s sovereignty.

Resisting Saleh’s order for his arrest, Hussein was killed in Sa’dah in 2004 along with a number of his guards by the Yemeni army, sparking the Houthi insurgency in Yemen. Since then, except for a short intervening period, the movement has been led by his brother Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.

The movement’s expressed goals include combating economic underdevelopment and political marginalization in Yemen while seeking greater autonomy for Houthi-majority regions of the country.

PM Khan has held meetings with Saudi King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman this week and discussed the regional issues and bilateral ties.

Riyadh’s support worth billions of dollars indicated PM Khan and the Saudi leaders were in agreement over the regional issues.

Yesterday Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Saudi Arabia had not demanded a more effective role of Pakistan in the Islamic Military Alliance to quell the Hauthis in return for its financial aid. “Absolutely no. There is no condition. They have not demanded anything. The help is totally on the basis of friendship.”

Political analyst Dr Khurram Iqbal said PM Khan’s offer was a positive gesture and all the parties were expected to welcome it.

“It is good to stop the Muslims from fighting against each other. I think Saudi Arabia, Iran and Yemen all will support the offer,” he said. Commenting on Imran Khan’s address to the nation, Pakistan People’s Party leader Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said that the person who was claiming that he will neither beg nor ask for loan from anyone was now roaming around the world with the begging bowl in his hand.

“Now Imran Khan is boasting about loan package from Saudi Arabia but has not told the nation what conditions he has agreed to acquire this loan,” he added.

Senator Khokhar said Imran Khan should come to the parliament and tell whether he had sold national asset of Reqodic to get this loan or what else he has promised to the lender.

“Imran Khan has also claimed that Pakistan will play a role of mediator in Yemen conflict but has he read the resolution passed on the issue by the parliament,” he added.

Senator Khokhar demanded of Imran Khan to come to the parliament and clarify the mediation role he has claimed to play.