- Premier to seek diplomatic support from Turkey, discuss strategy for handling public backlash over joining coalition forces
- PM urges president to call joint session of Parliament on Monday to evolve consensus on Pakistan’s role in Yemen conflict
- Defence minister says Saudia hopes Pak will ‘fully support’ offensive, adds PM wants to play a role in peacemaking
Pakistan on Thursday decided in principle to join the coalition forces to crush the rebellion by Houthi militia in Yemen, with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif flying today (Friday) to Turkey to meet and discuss a joint strategy with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has already announced support for the Saudi offensive.
Government sources told Pakistan Today that the decision to extend full support to the Saudi offensive was taken at a high-level meeting held in the federal capital with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the chair.
“We have decided to join the coalition forces to crush rebels in Yemen who have overthrown a legitimate government. The prime minister is leaving for a one-day visit to Turkey on Friday (today) where he would not only gain diplomatic support for Yemen crisis but he would also discuss a joint strategy to handle the possible public backlash over joining the coalition forces,” the source added.
Public sentiments are running high across Pakistan and politicians, analysts and civil society activists have been voicing their concerns over joining Saudi alliance to attack inside Yemen. The media is also against joining the Saudi bandwagon and people on the social, electronic and print media have been cautioning the government not to join coalition forces like “mercenaries”, as it would be a mistake which may trigger sectarian tensions inside Pakistan.
“Our stance is that no one could allow non-state actors to take up arms to challenge a legitimate government. We regard the Houthi rebels like Taliban against whom Pakistan’s brave forces are conducting operation,” the sources said.
The meeting decided to seek political support to back its decision. For the purpose, the sources said, the prime minister had summoned a joint session of the Parliament to get the government’s decisions endorsed.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif already has full backing from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Asif Ali Zardari who had urged the premier to support Saudi offensive against the non-state actors in Yemen.
The only thorn in the way of the federal government was Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan who had strongly opposed joining the Saudi offensive. However, Khan also softened his stance on Thursday, saying that the government should take up the role of “peacemaker” in the Yemen crisis.
JOINING THE OFFENSIVE:
Thursday’s high-level meeting was given detailed briefing by Chief of General Staff Lt General Ashfaq Nadeem about the requirements tabled by his counterpart in Saudi Arabia.
The meeting was attended by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Advisor to PM Sartaj Aziz, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman, acting chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Khan Hasham bin Saddique, foreign secretary and other senior officers.
“It seems that Saudi Arabia wants Pakistan to provide seasoned pilots who could lead air strikes with foolproof accuracy, hitting strategic installations of rebels inside Yemen. Moreover, ground troops are required to fight pitched battles inside Yemen’s difficult terrain,” a source said.
The source said that during the meeting, the military leadership informed the prime minister on risks involved in joining the coalition while it was also informed that securing the Saudi regime was one of the top strategic interests of Pakistan.
Though the meeting decided to join the coalition in principle, it was decided that the political leadership would be contacted to seek advice besides acquiring political support.
During the meeting, the prime minister condemned the action taken by rebels in Yemen to overthrow a legitimate government, and called upon all the factions to resolve all issues peacefully.
An official handout also hinted at the decisions reached during the meeting.
“The meeting affirmed that Pakistan’s national interest will remain the guiding principle of Pakistan’s policy. Given the close historical cultural and religious affinities between the peoples of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, it was reaffirmed that any isolation of Saudi Arabia’s territorial integrity will evoke a strong response from Pakistan,” the statement said.
“Pakistan condemns the actions by non-state actors in Yemen to overthrow a legitimate government, and calls upon the warring factions to resolve all issues peacefully,” the statement added, hinting for the first time that the government had decided to follow the version of Saudi Arabia on the conflict, terming the rebel militia as “non-state actors”.
The prime minister told the meeting that any isolation of Saudi Arabia’s territorial integrity would ignite a strong response from Pakistan and that concerned authorities would stay engaged with Saudi counterparts in this regard. He stressed on the close historical cultural and religious affinities between the peoples of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
JOINT SESSION SUMMONED:
The prime minister further emphasised that all decisions in the matter will be taken in accordance with the wishes of the people of Pakistan. To this end, the prime minister has advised the president to convene a joint session of Parliament on Monday to discuss this matter of “national importance”.
Defence Minister Khwaja Asif would brief the joint session of the Parliament on Monday on his recent visit to Saudi Arabia, informing about the current issues pertaining to the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen and Pakistan’s involvement into Yemen.
Speaking on the matter, the defence minister said that Saudi Arabia hopes that Pakistan will “fully support” their offensive in Yemen and PM Sharif wanted to play a role in resolution of conflict.
The minister also urged the Muslims not to prove “self destructive” by indulging in debate on Shia-Sunni sectarian divide.
Keeping in mind Nawaz Sharif's personal relationship & interest in the royal family, we could expect getting embroiled in Yemen which involvement can spread in future. This is going to be a totally unpatriotic decision to repay what Saudi royal family did for him in 2000 and may do again. Very sorry state of affairs.
Nawaz and his cronies must realize Yemen is not the aggressor it's SA who is attacking Yemen on the instructions of their Zionist friends, Pakistan should steer clear of this involvement as whilst we fighting someone else's illegitimate war & whilst our troops are occupied elsewhere it will give the TTP Scum time to regroup and carry out more killings. This is nothing but repayment of favours to SA.
It is nice to learn that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javed Zarif is due to visit Islamabad on April 8 in order to discuss Yemen situation with Pakistani officials. Irani officials deserve to be congratulated for successfully concluding a framework nuclear deal with the world leaders, with the final agreement hopefully not too far away.
Perhaps the strong action taken by Saudi Arabia and its allies was a bit unexpected for Iran. Moreover, the formation of a joint Arab military force would also have unsettled it. And on top of all this, indications of Pakistan actively joining on the side of Saudi Arabia may have proved too worrying for Iran.
Strictly speaking, facing problems on the eastern border, fighting terrorists in the tribal areas and being extensively engaged in dealing with militancy and terrorism inside the whole country, Pakistan military is in no position to take up additional assignments which could deplete it capacity to deal with its own problems. Additionally, it would be unwise for Pakistan to get involved in this Sunni-Shia tussle between Saudi Arabia and Iran in order to expand their respective areas of influence. Also, Pakistani involvement in this proxy war could raise serious problems for us because this Shia-Sunni war is also being fought within Pakistani borders through terrorist outfits supported and sponsored by Iran and Saudi Arabia. Another factor to consider is that one-fifth of Pakistani population consists of Shias.
Because of the above factors, Pakistan should resist the pressure to commit its troops to fighting in Yemen in support of the Saudi initiative.
Iranian authorities recently expressed a desire, and confidence that they could solve Yemeni problem through discussions with Saudi Arabia. In these circumstances Pakistan, which has friendly relations with both Saudi Arabia and Iran, has been placed in an ideal situation where it could try to solve, not only the Yemeni problem, but also to try to eliminate the ongoing Sunni-Shia war which is being fought over the whole of Middle East as also in Pakistan, and is doing great harm to the Umah as a whole. However, it remains to be seen whether the present top leadership in the country has the vision and capacity to work on such a large frame.
Apart from not being a statesman, Nawaz Sharif has another limitation: that of being heavily indebted to the Saudi Royal family for nearly a decade of hospitality and much more. Obviously, being in his last stint, Nawaz Sharif would like to make the best of it and return Saudi favours and in the process, cultivate some added goodwill which he could cash sometime. As for the present military leadership, it does not seem to be like the one that gave marching orders to two top state officials. In fact, the army has already declared that it will abide by the government decision which is how it should be in a democracy, except that ours is not really a democracy. So there does not seem to be much chance of Pakistani leadership using its influence and the special position – as the strongest militarily and the only nuclear power in the Muslim world – to bring to and end this Shia-Sunni tussle and thus establish its deserved place as the leader of the Ummah.
Karachi
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