Pakistan, April 25 -- The expected arrival of Iranian foreign minister Abbas?Araghchi in Islamabad is being cast as a logistical footnote to a wider war. It is not. It is the clearest sign yet that Pakistan has willingly and knowingly stepped into a narrow corridor, where one misread signal can collapse a ceasefire, and one patient conversation can keep a region from sliding back into fire.

As diplomats have already emphasised, the first extension of the Iran-US ceasefire was no victory but a controlled pause. Islamabad's ministers have been working the phones ever since. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met US Charge d'Affaires Natalie Baker and described the extension as a welcome development, saying Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and arm...