As Pakistanis once again mourn and remember the victims of the horrendous attack carried out on the Army Public School (APS) in Peshawar last year, Saudi Arabia has announced a new ‘Muslim’ coalition, which includes 34 nations from around the globe. The Saudis aim to counter all forms of terrorism across the Muslim world through this alliance. At first glance, this certainly seems to be the picture at hand.
However, even while taking a myopic view of this development one can easily comprehend that there is a severe lack of information coming out of the Saudi camp and this has resulted in several questions being asked on what is being done and what the precise agenda behind this initiative is.
According to Saudi Arabian ministers, the coalition members, including Turkey, the Gulf monarchies and Pakistan, will share knowledge and support through training and funding, and they will also provide forces, with the possibility of ground troops, to fight the ever-growing Islamic State (IS) threat in the Middle East. However, the defence minister of Saudi Arabia, Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, has also said that the coalition states will work together to defeat “any terrorist organisation, not just IS” across several countries, including Afghanistan. Hence, I cannot help but wonder, why bring Afghanistan into the discussion when it has not even been included as a member of the coalition?
Of course, it can be argued that Afghanistan, in its current state, cannot provide training, support and funding to other coalition members, as its economy is failing and therefore it does not meet membership criteria. Yet, it still remains the biggest victim of contemporary terrorism and has constantly fought terrorist groups within its borders, unlike several other coalition members, such as Chad and Mali, who neither have the necessary economic resources nor do they possess sufficient understanding of terrorism on such a large scale. Therefore, this only leads to further confusion on what the exact basis for state inclusion in the coalition is and, if it is the aforementioned criteria, only a handful of these states, like Turkey, Pakistan and the Gulf, possess the necessary economic resources or military expertise to genuinely contribute to the ambiguous ‘goals’ of the coalition.
Furthermore, this ‘Muslim’ coalition has unsurprisingly left out Iran, Iraq and the Assad regime in Syria, presumably because of their opposition in the Syria and Iraq proxy war and their focus on Shia Islam. Yet, it has included a Yemeni regime that is currently fighting Shia Houthi rebels along with its support and has similarly included Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy, which has regularly silenced its Shia-majority population. Hence, is it truly a Muslim coalition? Or is it more suitable to refer to it as a pro-Sunni Muslim front, which aims to further fuel the sectarian divide that currently exists in the Muslim world? Or will it be the members as a whole that will eventually determine what the true purpose of the coalition is?
Even though key figures in countries such as Lebanon and Turkey have spoken about and supported this initiative, the situation in Pakistan is still clouded in uncertainty. Therefore, it is not surprising that people have begun asking what role Pakistan will be playing. According to reports, Pakistan’s inclusion has come as a surprise to people in its political circles. Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry has said that he was quite surprised by these developments and that Pakistan was not even consulted on the matter. Once again, this lack of clarity is a key predictor of what lies in store and why Pakistan should keep its distance from the coalition, as it did with the Saudi-backed alliance in Yemen
After all, it has been stressed repeatedly that Pakistan has enough worries in its own backyard, with a full-scale army assault against terrorists taking place in the FATA region under the Zarb-e-Azb banner, and the continued threat of militant attacks across the country. Therefore, can it really afford to join an alliance that seems to be focusing on conflict in the Middle East, with aims and goals that are shrouded in mystery and the risk of retaliation from Pakistan’s neighbouring nations?
The answer is quite simply no. Not in anyway is Pakistan required to support and protect other countries in wars it has nothing to do with. Therefore, until further details about the coalition unfold and a clear and concise approach is prepared, deliberated and delivered to each coalition member, it will be a wise move for the South Asian nation to steer clear of this highly complex development. For it is imperative that it focus on its own losses and struggles, while rethinking a strategy on how best to deal with its own demons.
The writer is research coordinator for the South Asia Study Group. He tweets @Zushanhashmi