Daily Times

In a surprise move Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has decided to take tug-of-war between the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his political party PML-N and the apex judiciary to the floor of the Parliament. Well, sounds good. At least at long last the PM and his party have a knee-jerk awakening to the existence of the Parliament — supposed to be sovereign — with less than six months to go for next elections. In an interview to a TV channel he has also let the cat of his bag that there is a provision in the constitution that could enable the present government to extend its questionable stay for another year.

Regretfully while the war of words between PMLN leaders continues to heat up, the government is most viciously non-committal in taking the vital matter of sending troops to Saudi Arabia for debate in the Parliament and its approval. The matter is extremely sensitive and decision so arbitrary, that not many Parliamentarians or political leaders have the dare to discuss it. Thank goodness to the veteran Senator Farhatullah Babar who often is single in the field raising such issues and, of course, Chairman of the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani who does his best to uphold the sanctity and supremacy of the Parliament. Senator Babar is absolutely right in raising objections over the army’s deployment of its troops outside Pakistan terming the development without debate or approval, as ‘tantamount to bypassing the parliament’. He has done a national service by drawing the attention of the House to the matter since the issue is of public importance. Subsequently under pressure, Defence Minister Ghulam Dastgir came up with a ‘loli-langri’ briefing. He, however, did not give the details of ‘unilateral decision to send troops to Saudi Arabia for deployment’ committing ‘contempt of parliament’ as the Chairman described his refusal to divulge ‘operational details’. The Senate chairman rightly censured Dastgir for not taking the house into confidence even though both he and the Prime Minister had the knowledge of the decision for several months. “The parliament found out (about the deployment) through a press release,” Rabbani said. “The executive has itself rubbed parliament’s nose in the dirt.”

Initially, KSA and Israel both supported groups such as the Islamic State and Al-Nusra against Iran, in both Iraq and Syria but that strategy has failed due to support of the Russians in favour of Iran. Therefore, the decision was made to make the battle direct

It may be recalled that Saudi Arabia has been demanding the deployment of Pakistani troops since the start of the Yemen conflict in 2015. Without undermining the traditional fraternal relations between the two countries, it was Parliament that refused to oblige on compromising Pakistan’s neutrality. The parliamentary resolution not conceding to the request, asserted Pakistan’s neutrality in the conflict. The latest decision without seeking Parliament’s review of earlier decision or approval of the latest is total contradiction of the ‘neutrality’ — in line with a unanimous resolution passed by a joint sitting of parliament in 2015 stating that Pakistan will not become party to any war in the Middle East or any Arab state.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have had closest defence partnership since ages. However, here the issue is of vital national importance and it cannot be decided by a few individuals for their selfish personal relations. It relates to rapidly unfolding events in Middle East that are likely to have serious consequences for the entire region. In the past 17 years, post the 2001 Iraq war, the map of the Middle East has completely changed. Prior to 2001, Saudia Arabia was the dominant power in the region and Iran’s sphere of influence existed only in Syria, part of Lebanon (Hezbollah) and Gaza (Hamas). However, today in 2018, Iran has formed a Crescent around Saudia Arabia which has cornered Saudia Arabia in the Middle East. Iran now enjoys complete control in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. In addition, it is supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt; it has successfully allied Qatar on it’s side; it’s causing uprisings in Bahrain (unreported in the media). Also, it has occupied a significant portion of Yemen, successfully removing a pro-Saudi government.

In view of the above shift in the balance of power in the Middle East, the Saudis have naturally decided to take on Iran in a penultimate battle because on the current trajectory, Iran will become the sole power in the region. This has also led to the closest alliance that Saudia has ever had with Israel, as it to wants to engage Iran in a direct battle to change the force history.

Initially, Saudia and Israel both supported groups such as the Islamic State/Al-Nusra against Iran, in both Iraq and Syria but that strategy has failed due to support of the Russians in favour of Iran. Therefore, the decision was made to make the battle direct. The first example of this direct war was the attack on the Iranian Parliament, last year. It was an infamous attack, unparalleled in recent Iranian history. Iran responded swiftly, with a couple of warning shots over Riyadh: The rockets fired on Saudia, by the Houthi’s from Yemen — delivered the message.

In the given situation in order to take on Iran directly, Saudia needs the three of the most well-equipped and battle trained Muslim Armies: Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey. Since Pakistan trumps both, Egypt and Turkey due to its obvious superiority (eg nuclear weapons), General Raheel Shareef was seduced in as the head of the ‘Islamic Nato’, created by Saudia in anticipation of the coming war. It was obvious then that Pakistan would only acquiesce to a troop request, if it had complete control over the running of the Muslim Nato and, therefore, General Raheel Shareef swiftly moved to take up that position.

Finally, the news of the brigade that might be sent to Saudia, comes as no surprise. Please note that according to unconfirmed reports, at least 50,000 retired Army personal are already serving in Saudia and the UAE in very important positions. Some of the recruitment was even rumoured to have taken place under the guise of indigenous proxy organisations in cahoots with the deep state.

While Turkey was supportive of Iran and Qatar, Saudi could not do much by just hiring a retired general from Pakistan and renting its troops for Saudi Nato, its biggest impetus came with the election of President Donald Trump since President Obama had refused to re-supply the Saudi Army with important weaponry, severely restricting their ability to fight in Yemen or preparing for a war with Iran. However, Trump’s first visit to Saudi Arabia to head an Arab summit led to refuelling the Saudi arsenal with everything it needs, to prepare for a war with Iran.

To be continued

The writer Author is the former High Commissioner of Pakistan to UK and a veteran journalist

Published in Daily Times, February 21^st 2018.