ISLAMABAD (AP) – Pakistan’s prime minister on Monday called on Iran to use its influence to help bring Yemen’s Shiite rebels to the negotiating table on the crisis roiling their country, where Saudi-led airstrikes have been targeting the rebels for over two weeks.
The call came after the parliament in the predominantly majority Sunni Pakistan voted on Friday to stay out of the Yemen conflict and not send troops for the Saudi-led coalition, as Pakistani officials said the kingdom had asked for. Lawmakers also unanimously demanded that Pakistan “maintain its neutrality in the Yemen conflict” in order to help negotiate a diplomatic solution.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he had discussed Yemen in depth with Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif who visited Islamabad last week and that he denounced the power grab by the Yemeni rebels known as Houthis.
“The violent overthrow of Yemen’s legitimate government by the Houthis has set a dangerous precedent,” Sharif said. “It is fraught with serious risks for the entire region.”
In the vote Friday, the Pakistani parliament said the country’s diplomats will “initiate steps before the U.N. Security Council … to bring about an immediate cease-fire in Yemen” and warned of regional implications if the conflict blows into an all-out sectarian war.