Too many friends.

"Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that Pakistan is now recognized as a 'responsible' nation that not only knows how to defend itself, but has also emerged as a 'guarantor of global peace and security." "He also warned that any aggression against Pakistan would receive an 'immediate, befitting and full-spectrum response'." "He said Islamabad's role as a key mediator during the US-Iran conflict and its efforts to seek an end to violence have earned worldwide acknowledgement." DH. "Pakistan is in a unique position as it is trusted by the US, Iran and the Gulf countries." Also Field Marshall Asim Munir is President Donald Trump's "favorite field marshall". BBC. On 17 September 2025, Pakistan signed a Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement (SMDA) with Saudi Arabia which commits "treating any act of aggression against one as an act against both (known as collective security". wikipedia. This means that Pakistan could face "a potential 'nightmare scenario' if negotiations collapse, and it gets dragged into fighting with its neighbor Iran" in support of the Saudis. That scenario is not as fanciful as it sounds because, "Saudi Arabia carried out a series of unpublicised airstrikes on Iran in late March in retaliation for attacks inside the kingdom during the Middle East conflict, according to sources cited by Reuters. The strikes marked the first known case of Saudi Arabia directly conducting military action on Iranian soil." TOI. To pacify Iran, "Pakistan has opened six overland transit routes to move shipments into Iran, aiming to clear more than 3,000 containers stranded at Karachi and Port Qasim," out of which, "Spanning just 89 kilometers, the Gwadar-Gabd corridor has been activated as a key land route connecting Pakistan to Iran, cutting travel time to the border to just 2-3 hours compared to 16-18 hours from Karachi." oilprice.com. It may seem very easy but Gwadar is a port city in the Pakistani province of Balochistan and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) connects Gwadar to the Chinese province of Xinjiang. wikipedia. A rebel group, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) "accuses Pakistan's federal government of exploiting the rich mineral resources of its largest province without the local population benefiting. In February, "The BLA said it had launched a coordinated operation dubbed Herof, or 'black storm' against security forces, and claimed to have killed 84 members of the security forces and kidnapped a further 18." The claim was not verified. BBC. To the BLA the CPEC is another means of exploitation of their people and so they have repeatedly attacked Chinese nationals forcing the government to form a force of 12,000 soldiers to protect Chinese nationals in the country. wikipedia. In further help to Iran, "Pakistan, which was trying to play the role of a mediator by holding peace talks to end the US-Iran war, allowed several Iranian military aircraft to park on its airfields to shield them from American airstrikes, a report said." TOI. To get more friends, "Pakistan's Defence Minister Khwaja Asif, in an interview with Hum News.., indicated more progress towards formalizing a multilateral defence alliance among Muslim majority states, the so-called Islamic NATO." Pakistan and Saudi Arabia already have a defence pact and they are trying to get Qatar and Turkiye to join them. ET. In 2017 Saudi Arabia, UAE and Egypt severed diplomatic relations with Qatar, known as the New Arab Cold War (wikipedia) which were restored in 2021 after mediation by Kuwait and the US (BBC). Pakistan seems to be becoming everybody's friend. What if they start fighting among each other? Whose side will it take? Perhaps, our Prime Minister could help. He has toured almost every country. And, is doing it again.