THE ASIAN INDEPENDENT UK
Bal Ram Sampla
Geopolitics
For seventy years, Pakistan stood with Palestine. The leaders spoke passionately at every international forum. The people marched in the streets. Pakistan refused to recognize Israel. Pakistan called their actions genocide. Palestine was not just foreign policy—it was part of Pakistan national identity, Islamic duty.
Today, that principle has a price tag. And Pakistan’s military establishment has accepted the payment.
The Deal Behind Closed Doors
In 2025, something unprecedented happened. America’s President Trump did not meet with Pakistan’s Prime Minister or Foreign Minister. He met with General Asim Munir, Pakistan’s army chief, in the White House Cabinet Room. No elected official was present. Just the general, the intelligence chief, and the American president.
A Pakistani-American businessman named Sajid Tarar ( also a you- tuber) arranged this meeting. The civilian government was by passed entirely. Pakistan’s democracy was irrelevant. The men with guns made the decisions.
What came next reveals the transaction clearly.
The Price of Betrayal
Within weeks of that meeting, American weapons started flowing again. A $450 million F-16 package was approved—the first major arms sale since 2018. Advanced air-to-air missiles worth tens of millions more. World Bank loans. Promises of debt relief. The military establishment was being rewarded.
And what did America want in return? Pakistani troops in Gaza.
Not to defend Palestinians. Not to stop Israeli aggression. But to enforce Trump’s peace plan—a plan Pakistan’s own Foreign Minister admitted was “not our document” and had been changed from what Muslim countries originally proposed. A plan that opposition politicians correctly identify as giving cover to Israeli occupation with Muslim soldiers.
Speaking From Both Sides
Here is Pakistan’s duplicity in plain language:
(1) Pakistan says: “We oppose this plan. Key elements were altered. We stand with Palestine.”
(2) Pakistan does: Sends troops to implement the plan anyway.
(3) Pakistan says: “Israel’s campaign is genocide. We will never recognize them.”
(4)Pakistan does: Puts soldiers under a command structure that coordinates with Israeli forces.
(5) Pakistan says: “We act on principle and moral obligation.”
(6) Pakistan does: Changes its position exactly when American money and weapons arrive.
This is not principle. This is a business transaction. Pakistan is not standing with Palestine—it is standing with whoever pays.
The People Versus The Generals
The cruelest part of this betrayal is that it goes against everything ordinary Pakistanis believe.
When Israel bombed Gaza, Pakistanis filled the streets in protest. When Palestinian children died, Pakistani mothers wept. When mosques were destroyed, Pakistani Muslims felt it as their own loss. This solidarity was real, deep, and genuine.
But the generals did not care what the people thought. They cared about F-16s. They cared about American favour. They cared about their institutional interests.
Former Senator Raja Nasir said it clearly: this plan “enables rather than ends Israel’s military control.” Opposition leader Shireen Mazari warned it means “cooperating with the Israeli Defence Force under US and UK command.” The people understand what their leaders are doing. They see the betrayal for what it is.
Yet the military steamrolls ahead, deaf to public outrage, accountable to no one.
The Pattern of Selling Out
This is not new. Pakistan’s military establishment has a long history of trading principles for American dollars:
(1) joined America’s war on terror and let drones kill its own citizens
(2) provided bases and supply routes while people called it slavery
(3) arrested and handed over Muslims to American torture prisons
(4) destabilized its own regions for American strategic interests
Each time, citizens were told it was necessary. Each time, were told it was temporary. Each time, the generals got richer while the nation got poorer and more humiliated.
Now they are doing it again—but this time, they are selling out Palestine itself.
What This Means
When Pakistani soldiers arrive in Gaza, they will not be peacekeepers. They will be enforcers of an occupation wearing Muslim uniforms to make it acceptable. They will protect Israeli interests while giving America and Israel the cover they need to claim Muslim support.
The Palestinian resistance will see Pakistani troops not as brothers but as collaborators. The Muslim world will see Pakistan not as a defender of the faith but as a mercenary force for hire. History will record that when Palestine needed solidarity, Pakistan sold it for weapons and loans.
This is the death of Pakistan’s moral authority. This is the proof that the military establishment has no principles beyond power and profit. This is the moment when seven decades of declared support for Palestine was revealed as empty rhetoric—abandoned the moment America offered the right price.
The Unforgivable Sin
Pakistan was not forced into this. It chose this.
The leaders chose F-16 parts over Palestinian freedom. They chose American approval over public conscience. They chose military hardware over moral clarity.
They did this while Pakistani children still grow up learning that Palestine matters. While our textbooks teach Islamic solidarity. While the mosques preach about Al-Aqsa. While the people genuinely believe their country stands for something.
The generals have made the children’s education a lie. They have made national identity a fraud. They have made Pakistan’s word worthless.
Conclusion: A Nation’s Shame
There is a word for abandoning your principles for money. There is a word for betraying your brothers when they need you most. There is a word for pretending to stand for justice while serving injustice.
That word is betrayal.
Pakistan’s military establishment has betrayed Palestine. It has betrayed the Pakistani people. It has betrayed every speech, every protest, every declaration of solidarity from the past seventy years.
They sold out. The price was American weapons and loans. The cost is Pakistan’s honour.
And no amount of official statements about “humanitarian concerns” and “moral obligations” can hide the simple, ugly truth: when the test came, Pakistan’s principles were for sale. And America bought them.
This is not first time Pakistan sold out to Palestinians. Remember, Black September! General Zia-ul-haq sold out the Palestinians.
References
1.https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/4/world-leaders-weigh-in-on-hamass-positive-response-to-trumps-gaza-plan
2.https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/23/trump-to-present-plan-on-ending-israels-gaza-war-to-arab-muslim-leaders
3.https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-29/pakistan-mulls-sending-troops-to-gaza-under-trump-peace-plan
4.https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/3/pakistan-fm-says-trumps-plan-to-end-israels-gaza-war-was-altered
