India, March 24 -- Pakistan found itself centrestage on Tuesday in a surprise diplomatic initiative to end the conflict in West Asia, though uncertainty surrounded the move as US and Iranian officials provided conflicting accounts of possible talks aimed at ending hostilities that are into their fourth week, impacting fuel and fertiliser supplies across the globe.

Reports about Pakistan serving as a potential venue for peace talks emerged after US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he had put off threatened strikes on Iranians power plants for five days after "very good and productive conversations" with Tehran. The reports further suggested this was the outcome of an initiative pushed by Pakistan along with Egypt, Saudi Arabia a...