A dangerous shift in policy

Riyadh is making Islamabad alienate stakeholders at home and away

The assurances by the foreign office about Pakistan’s agreement with Saudi Arabia regarding regional security have failed to convince either Pakistani critics or foreign countries. What has surprised many is the ill-considered and undiplomatic reaction from FO spokesperson Tasneem Aslam, who raised questions about the ‘intelligence level of those who are indulging in this debate’. The critics included parliamentarians like opposition leader Khurshid Shah, PTI vice chairman and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and some of the knowledgeable media figures. Among the issues they raised were a basic shift in Syria policy and the agreement to supply anti-tank and shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, which Saudia Arabia is reportedly purchasing for Syrian rebels. According to Ms Aslam, defence deals normally had “end-user certificate, which ensures that our weapons are not resold or provided to a third country”. Many think assurances of the sort are less observed in practice than visualised by the naive spokesperson. The Russian foreign ministry has strongly remonstrated, maintaining that it was “deeply concerned” by reports that Saudi Arabia was planning to buy Pakistani-made shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles and anti-tank systems to arm Syrian rebels based in Jordan. It has warned Riyadh against supplying the missile launchers to rebels as the move would endanger security across the Middle East. Moscow has ominously hinted that in the end they could be used far from the borders of Syria.

This should concern Pakistan in particular. Some of the weapons supplied earlier to the Syrian opposition by CIA finally ended up in the hands of al Qaeda affiliated ISIS, which led the US to revise its weapon supply plans. What is the guarantee that some of the shoulder fired SAMs would not end up in the hands of Pakistani militants, some of whom are reportedly fighting alongside the extremists. Nothing would then be safe, from the army’s gunship helicopters to Pakistan’s civil aviation planes.

Equally worrisome is the prospect of possible Pakistani cooperation in repressing home grown dissent in the Gulf. Repressive policies driven by sectarian concerns are again leading to protests in Bahrain. The policy of putting down peaceful dissent through disproportionate force has led to counter violence. Last week an Emirati and two police officers from Bahrain died in an explosion. Even the Gulf countries are divided over the policy formulated in the 2013 GCC agreement on joint security. Kuwait has yet not signed it in view of strong opposition from Kuwaiti lawmakers. The differences with Qatar have reached a point where Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain have withdrawn envoys from Doha. Pakistan can ill afford to become a partisan in a fractured GCC.