WAS it a yes, a no or a “perhaps later”? For the past two weeks, Pakistan was locked in an anguished debate over how to respond to an appeal from Saudi Arabia for troops to fight in the war now raging in Yemen.

When the Saudi appeal first came, it seemed that the dispatch of Pakistani soldiers to the Gulf was imminent: “Any threat to the territorial integrity of Saudi Arabia will be met with a firm response,” read a communique from Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

But soon thereafter, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry issued a denial that any of the country’s military was engaged in Yemen, although the Pakistani flag continued to fly alongside that of Arab nations at the Saudi-based headquarters of Yemen operations.

… And, according to Mr Abdul Basit, an associate research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam Schoolof International Studies at Nanyang Technological University, Pakistan has also offered to mediate between Saudi Arabia and Iran; the effort could mirror the mediation efforts which Pakistan undertook with great success between the US and China at the height of the Cold War.