Daily Times

In electronic and print media, the PTI government is being criticised by some analysts and panelists, especially over first committing to attend the Kuala Lumpur Summit, and later, for withdrawing a day before the summit started. Of course, opposition parties would utilise every opportunity to lambast the government, but it would not be wrong to say that the singular achievement of the PTI government is in the domain of foreign policy. However, because of the differences between the Muslim ummah and because of the dependency syndrome, the government was forced to take a difficult decision to maintain Pakistan’s neutrality in the Muslim ummah.

In fact, the differences between Saudi Arabia and Malaysia compelled Prime Minister Imran Khan to stay out of the Kuala Lumpur Summit. The UAE foreign minister who paid an unannounced visit to Islamabad first conveyed the concern, and Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had to travel to Saudi Arabia.

The objective was to allay Riyadh’s concerns and to ensure that the kingdom’s interests would be well looked after.When Saudi Arabia and its other Arab allies were not convinced with the explanation of Pakistan, Prime Minister Khan had to travel to Riyadh, while at the same time, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa visited the UAE. A senior government official who was directly involved with the decision-making process brushed aside the impression that Pakistan stayed out of the Kuala Lumpur Summit on Saudi Arabia’s pressure.”It was a difficult decision but taken in view of the best national interests and the larger regional situation,” he said.The official also said that the purpose of the premier’s visit to Riyadh was not to convince the Saudi leadership for Kuala Lumpur Summit but was an effort to bridge differences between the two important Muslim countries, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

A senior government official who was directly involved with the decision-making process brushed aside the impression that Pakistan stayed out of the Kuala Lumpur Summit on Saudi Arabia’s pressure

Although the Saudi leadership has the highest regard for Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, they nevertheless thought the summit was meant to replace the OIC, and that it would increase divisions in the Islamic world.Despite the fact that Malaysia had extended an invitation to Saudi Arabia as well as the UAE to attend the summit, Saudi Arabia was not convinced.

Inexperienced analysts who pose as experts in foreign affairs, economic affairs and security matters call it a foreign policy debacle. Some foreign policy experts, of course,opine that the foreign office should have given the briefing to the PM and informed him about the sensitivities of the friendly countries. The former diplomat and analyst, Abdul Basit, said that Pakistan’s move would not affect its ties with Turkey, Malaysia and Iran, which supported Pakistan’s stand on the disputed Jammu and Kashmir following India’s scrapping of the region’s longstanding special rights in August.

The former foreign secretary,Shamshad Ahmed Khan, said that Malaysia and Turkey understand Pakistan’s position, and Imran Khan not attending the KL Summit would not have any adverse impact on relations between Pakistan and the above-mentioned countries. It has to be mentioned that despite Khan’s decision to skip the KL Summit at the last moment, Prime Minister Mahathir has criticised India’s new citizenship law, which is seen as discriminatory against Muslims and has sparked deadly protests across the South Asian country.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Kuala Lumpur Summit 2019 on Friday, Mahathir questioned the necessity of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) when Indians have lived together for 70 years. “People are dying because of this law. Why is there a necessity to do this when all the while, for 70 years, they have lived together as citizens without any problem?” he asked.

When the former COAS General (Retd) Raheel Sharif was appointed asthe head of the Islamic military alliance, Pakistan had convinced Iran that the military chief would ensure that the alliancewould not work against Iran’s interests. Iran appeared to have been convinced. General Sharif was appointed as the head of the Saudi Arabia-led 39-nation military coalition formed to serve as a platform for security cooperation and combat terrorism. The decision to appoint General Sharif, who retired in November 2016, was taken after taking into the PML-N government into confidence, the former defence minister, Khawaja Asif, said in January 2017.

Speaking during a talk show on Geo TV, Asif admitted that an agreement in this regard was finalised a few days ago. He said that both the government and army were on board regarding the decision to let Raheel Sharif take charge of the alliance. According to Saudi Arabia, the alliance is formed to fight Daesh and other militant outfits.

This time round, the visits failed to bring the desired results, and Pakistan had to opt out of the summit. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the Turkish media: “Now, there are promises that the country has given to Pakistan regarding the central bank. However, more than that, there are four million Pakistanis working in Saudi Arabia. They threaten by saying that they would send Pakistanis back and re-employ Bangladeshi people instead.” He added that the Gulf kingdom had also issued similar threats to withdraw money deposited in the State Bank of Pakistan if Islamabad attended the Kuala Lumpur Summit.

Erdogan is a strong leader and has the right to make his observations. Having said that, Turkey and Malaysia understand Pakistan’s position. And having said that, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Malaysia or any other country cannot ignore Pakistan.

The writer is a freelance columnist