- Another game changer
Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman (MBS) is expected to arrive in Pakistan on the invitation of the government’s in the first week of February. The dates for the upcoming visit are yet to be finalised. It has been reported that the crown prince will announce investment worth almost $15 billion in Pakistan in addition to other economic and diplomatic initiatives.
The visit was announced by Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, who spoke to his Saudi counterpart on the telephone during which both discussed the close relationship between the two countries. Fawad Chaudhry informed his Saudi counterpart Turki Bin Abdullah Al-Shabanah that Pakistan is awaiting the Saudi crown prince’s visit to the country. He felicitated the Saudi minister of media on assuming new responsibilities.
Mr Chaudhry said Islamabad and Riyadh enjoyed ties based on mutual respect, cooperation and trust. He hoped that new vistas of cooperation will open in diverse fields, including media, in future with the crown prince’s visit.
Earlier on January 12, 2019, Saudi Minister of Energy and Industry Prince Engineer Khalid Abdulaziz Al-Falih said that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) will make historic investments in Pakistan. He expressed these views during a meeting with Minister for Petroleum Ghulam Sarwar Khan and Minister for Maritime Affairs, Syed Ali Haider Zaidi in Gwadar, according to state-owned Radio Pakistan. Both the sides reviewed possibilities of expanding exports and discussed the prospects of active cooperation to realise the existing potential of the Gwadar Port. They also discussed possibilities of financial cooperation to enable Pakistan exploit energy, sanitation and mineral resources. The Saudi minister said cooperation of Pakistan, China and Saudi Arabia on Gwadar Port, which is in an important region, was exemplary.
Petroleum Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan informed that the state of art oil refinery in Gwadar will be launched with the Saudi investment; while the project will be the biggest investment by Saudi Arabia in Pakistan. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding the project will be signed during the upcoming visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in February, he added.
Sources relayed that officials in Islamabad and Riyadh will likely sign additional MoUs pertaining to cooperation in mineral resources. The kingdom is interested in investment in oil refinery, petrochemicals, renewable energy and mining apart from the $10b plus Saudi investment which is expected to be signed. The $10b investment will be in addition to the Saudi package of $6b approved by the kingdom to Pakistan during Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to Saudi Arabia in October last year.
The Saudi minister said cooperation of Pakistan, China and Saudi Arabia on Gwadar Port, which is in an important region, was exemplary
The ties between KSA and Pakistan are historic and date far back. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have sought to develop extensive commercial, cultural, religious, political, and strategic relations since the establishment of Pakistan in 1947. Pakistan affirms its relationship with Saudi Arabia as their most “important and bilateral partnership” in the current foreign policy of Pakistan, working and seeking to develop closer bilateral ties with Saudi Arabia, the largest country on the Arabian Peninsula and host to the two holiest cities of Islam, Makkah and Madinah and the destination of Muslim pilgrims from across the world.
Pakistan maintains close military ties with Saudi Arabia, providing extensive support, arms and training for the Saudi Armed Forces. In the 1970s and 1980s, approximately 15,000 Pakistani soldiers were stationed in the kingdom. Now regular bilateral military exercises take place while both countries learn from each other’s experiences in combating terrorism.
Pakistani engineers and workers’ sweat and labour has contributed to the development and modernisation of KSA. This scribe was posted as Air and Naval Attaché at the embassy of Pakistan from 1991-1995, especially during the tumultuous period of Saddam Hussain’s occupation of Kuwait and saw the Gulf War and its aftermath closely. Pakistani armed forces are held in high esteem by their Saudi counterparts.
Unfortunately, whenever Pakistan makes overtures to its traditional friend Saudi Arabia, vested interests try and drive a wedge in the close ties. Pakistan is also a neighbour of Iran and both countries have very close ties. Saudi and Iranian rivalry has nothing to do with Pakistan, which cannot afford either a zero-sum game or “either/or relationship.” Similarly, relations between Qatar and Saudi Arabia are strained. Pakistan, which is close to both brotherly Muslim nations, cannot take sides or abandon ties with one at the behest of the other. Similarly, Saudi Arabia and Yemen are at war, which is sad but again instead of taking sides, Pakistan has offered its good offices to act as a mediator to restore peace.
The brutal murder of renowned journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey at the Saudi Consulate is cited as reason for Pakistan to distance itself from Saudi Arabia. It must be understood that all rational democracies in the world protect their own interests without indulging into politics of the other countries or becoming party to it. The relationship of Saudi Arabia with Iran, Qatar and Yemen and the issue of Khashoggi are the internal matters of Saudi Arabia and do not have any bearing on Pakistan.
Saudi Arabia enjoys its relationship with the west despite various points of contention. Notwithstanding the fact that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is being ruled by a conservative autocratic monarchy with human rights concerns which are contrary to the standards of the West, the kingdom has never really had to deal with pressure from the western governments or media to change its ways.
Lobbies which are close to Iran rake up the Saudi-Iranian rivalry and quote Iran as another issue that is put on fire whenever some initiatives with Saudi Arabia are on their way. Pro-Iranian lobby in Pakistan, their sympathisers and other spoilers play this card whenever our relationship with Saudi Arabia takes fresh initiatives. After nearly a decade of hibernation, Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs has put its act together under the Imran Khan government and is making overtures to various states, which are bearing fruit. The economic crunch currently being faced by Pakistan is being resolved with the help of its traditional friends, China, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar. This is remarkable because in the absence of the financial support of its allies, Pakistan would be at the mercy of IMF and would be seeking bailout packages at stringent conditions.
Detractors of Pakistan will seek to create impediments in the renewed Pak-Saudi ties. Any efforts to discolour the Pak-Saudi and Pak-Iranian relationship before the visit would be nothing but to damage the Pakistan Government’s efforts of building better diplomatic and economic ties with the brotherly countries which is considered “uncalled for” by patriotic section of the Pakistani society. We need to shun such negative attitudes and proceed with the policy of “charity for all and malice towards none.”
