Daily Times

Pakistan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) are two brotherly nations who share a long history of mutual support, collaboration and friendship spanning several decades. The strength and significance of the relationship, not only for the two nations but for the entire Muslim world transcends the traditional bilateral paradigm. The affiliation between the two dates to the early 1940s, even before Pakistan formally came into existence. This little-known interaction occurred in April 1940, when the then Crown Prince, HRH Saud bin Abdul Aziz, along with a large delegation, visited Karachi and was received with immense warmth by the leaders of the All India Muslim League. The delegation also included the King’s five brothers, of which three would later go on to become Kings themselves – King Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (1964), King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud (1982), and King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud (2005). It would not be a stretch to state that this visit set the foundation stone for the robust relations the newly independent state of Pakistan and the Kingdom were to share over the coming decades. Important bilateral exchanges occurred in 1943 and 1946. All these landmark events essentially laid the durable foundation and foreshadowing the resilient bilateral relations that the two brotherly countries have shared since.

Since 1947, the cooperation between the two has spanned over the domain of economic, cultural and defense. Saudi Arabia supported Pakistan in the Indo-Pakistan wars of 1965 and 1971; during the UN sanctions after the nuclear tests by Pakistan; provided humanitarian assistance whenever natural disasters struck and has provided financial support for development projects in Pakistan. With every passing decade, thestrength of bilateral relations has touched new heights, and the two following decades – the 1970s and 80s – bearwitness to this phenomenon. These decades witnessed numerous symbolic gestures as well as physical manifestation of this mutual consideration.

Pakistan has also been committed to the protection of the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Holy cities of Makkah and Medina and has demonstrated this resolve time and again. As witnessed during the siege of Makkah in 1979, Gulf War of 1990-91, the country has been offering training and support to Saudi armed forces. More than 10,000 Pakistani troops are protecting places of worship in Saudi Arabia. Former COAS of Pakistan, General Raheel Sharif is at present commanding the 41-nation military alliance, the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC), which symbolizes the strong strategic partnership between the two countries.

Pakistan-Saudi relations witnessed a further deepening of ties when Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman paid a state visit to Pakistan in 2019 and signed MoUs for Saudi investment in Pakistan worth $20 billion, including an oil refinery in Gwadar. Prior to this, Saudi Arabia signed the emergency economic relief package worth $6.2 billion for Pakistan in 2018 to augment Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves and obviate a balance-of-payments crisis.

This month an unfortunate statement by Pakistan’s Foreign Minister made headlines in the media regarding OIC’s and especially Saudi Arabia’s role on the Indian-Occupied Kashmir. It was reaffirmed by the Foreign Office spokesperson, implying that the FM’s statement was the official narrative of Pakistan, further aggravating the assumptions about a dent in the fraternal ties between both countries.

After this thoughtless media exercise, several news items like “Pakistan lashes out at Saudi-led OIC’s silence on Kashmir” and “Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi warned of parting ways with the Saudi Arabian-led OIC” started to circle around on various national and international media channels. Indian news channels, especially, availed this opportunity to exaggerate the events and to portray the trajectory of Pakistan and Saudi relations being on a decline.

A much-needed introspection will reveal that instead of making statements for damage-control as an afterthought, it is better suited to speak with well thought-out opinions on relations with friendly countries

What was ignored was the fact that the OIC’s Contact Group on Kashmir, led by Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador Yousef M. Aldobeay visited AJK in March 2020, and reiterated OIC’s commitment to finding a peaceful settlement for Jammu and Kashmir in a statement in June 2020.

Foreign policy of a country also reflects the national aspirations of its people. The religious and people-to-people bond between the two countries is too valuable to be damaged at the behest of emotional whims of the government Ministers. The recent series of events will inexorably create some embitterment amongst Saudis, including the media and diplomats, who see Pakistan as a brotherly country and support it on the Kashmir cause. Furthermore, this story also disappointed the ordinary Saudi citizens who posses’ positive sentiments about Pakistan. At this time, Islamabad cannot afford to isolate its friends in Riyadh. Antagonizing friendly nations will not serve us in any way.

The people of Pakistan have always felt a special reverence for Saudi Arabia as the birthplace of Islam, and the Kingdom considers Pakistan, a leading non-Arab Muslim ally. Impulsive statements such as the ones in the recent series of events could hurt the sentiments of the public, thereby distressing the people-to-people relations. This could also ease the agenda for ill-willed states to damage our foreign policy and relations with friendly countries. The means for communication of any concerns must be framed in a better way through backdoor talks, without bringing sensitive issues into public discourse and scrutiny. A Foreign Ministers’ meeting on Kashmir which Pakistan called for could have been arranged with the help of backdoor diplomacy instead of an aggressive statement to a media channel.

Theforeign minister did release a statement a few days later while dismissing speculations of souring of ties with KSA, stated that Pakistan-Saudi relations have always been good and will remain good in the future, highlighting that Pakistan and KSA are each other’s “necessity and support”, but it was too little too late.

A much-needed introspection will reveal that instead of making statements for damage-control as an afterthought, it is better suited to speak with well thought-out opinions on relations with friendly countries. Pakistan’s policymakers need to engage in careful diplomacy with allies and hold themselves accountable over their statements and actions. Instead of deliberating on future areas of mutual cooperation and benefit, we find ourselves in the midst of situations that are a result of a lack of soul-searching and absence of an effective foreign policy. There is a need to engage in careful diplomacy with friendly countries as even a slight dent in the relations could prove difficult to manoeuvre through for maintaining friendly relations.

The writer is Central Coordinator of PPP Research, Communication and Social Media cell and Patron in Chief of a non-partisan think tank; the Centre for Pakistan and Gulf Studies (CPGS), she is a prominent politician, academician and practitioner in the areas of regional, international defense and strategic studies. She has served as an elected Member of the Upper House of Parliament of Islamic Republic of Pakistan from 2012-2018, until May 2019 she was the Member Senate of Pakistan Forum for Policy Research (SFPR). She has also remained the member of Senate committees on Defence, Foreign Affairs, Human Rights and the convener of the Pakistan-Saudi Parliamentary Friendship Group at the Senate of Pakistan. Twitter @SeharKamran