Unsure and ill-advised
The ‘Islamic military alliance to fight terrorism’ that includes Pakistan was announced by Saudi Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman on December 15. Quizzed in the Senate a week later Sartaz Aziz said Pakistan had joined what it considered a coalition but was still unaware of its full details. However, he cautioned parliament against “complicating” the process by “prematurely” discussing it. Aziz promised to come back to parliament once details were available.
More than two months after the formation of the alliance, Sartaj Aziz still insists that Pakistan is as ignorant of its role in the alliance as before. Why does Pakistan then continue to participate in the activities of the alliance, all the more so when the country has signed no pact with Saudi Arabia on the alliance as the National Assembly was told by Aziz on Tuesday? Answering a question about Pakistan taking part in the exercise Northern Thunder, which is being hailed as ‘the most important military maneuver ever staged in the region’, Aziz maintained Pakistan participated in the joint exercise under a previous defence pact. Really?
This was no ordinary exercise under a previous pact. The exercise was in fact conducted under the directives of the Islamic military alliance’s Saudi commander with all the 30-odd member states participating in it. While the government pretends to be unaware of the purpose behind the alliance and the significance of the exercise, the rest of the world is not that ignorant. The exclusion of Syria, Iraq and Iran from the alliance clearly indicates its highly divisive sectarian character. The Northern Thunder synchronised with Saudi Arabia dispatching its fighter planes to Incirlik airbase and simultaneously preparing allies for ground action inside Syria to affect a government change through military means. In case Pakistan continues to advance any further on the way chosen by the Saudi kingdom it will be fighting Riyadh’s sectarian war, which will have a destabilising influence on Pakistani society and will earn the hostility of not only Syria, Iraq and Iran but also Russia.