Saudi Arabia has always acted as
an elder brother by standing with Pakistan during the most difficult crises. It
was HRH King Faysal bin Saud who sent spare parts for fighter jets and stood
openly with Pakistan during the Indo-Pak war in 1965. There were many difficult
moments where Saudi Arabia’s help cannot be forgotten as it remained as an
all-weather friend with us. I recall those fond old memories which I
experienced every time I went to Saudi Arabia and was received at the steps of
the plane by the then HRH Crown Prince Mohummad Bin Naif, and every time my
meeting with His excellency King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz used to last for hours
and the discussion was mostly on South Asia and the Middle East. I remember how
carefully and amicably the Saudi team handled the negotiations with Iran which
were led by me on the initiative of President Asif Ali Zardari. They always
expressed great thoughts for the people of Pakistan and Saudi authorities
always have a special place for Pakistan. It will not be wrong to say that the
relationship between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia has always been close and
friendly. Pakistan, considered one of the strongest military states, has assumed
the role of a guardian of host to the two holiest cities of Islam, Mecca and
Medina, and the destination of Muslim pilgrims from across the world; Saudi
Arabia, against any external or internal threat to the holy places.
Saudi Arabia has remained as the
strongest supporter of Pakistan in the matter of Kashmir in the past; we need
to examine and see what went wrong that Saudi Arabia decided to invest billions
of dollars in India rather than in Pakistan. Both the countries have enjoyed
sound political, diplomatic, military, and economic relations until recent
times and a sudden change in the attitude of Saudi Arabia needs to be properly
looked into and we must work out to identify and redress the misunderstanding
through mutual discussions. HRH King Faisal Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud played a key
dignitary role in holding the first-ever All Muslim Ummah conference in
Pakistan which was initiated by Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Pakistan and Saudi
Arabia’s relationship have touched new heights under the strong leadership of HRH
King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz. In 2018, on the request of Pakistan, he gave
Pakistan $3 billion in aid and loans, of which $1.5 billion was deposited in
Pakistan’s central bank. Further, a loan worth up to $3 billion was also given
in deferred payments for oil imports to help stave off our current account
crisis, while Saudi Arabia negotiated a bailout deal with the International
Monetary Fund. During the same year, Saudi Arabia under HRH King Salman,
announced plans to establish an oil refinery at Gwadar, with a proposed
capacity of 500,000 barrels per day by investing $30 billion. In 2019, it paid
$20 billion to finance developmental projects in Pakistan. HRH Prince Mohammad
Bin Salman has also been taking keen interest in bringing new reforms to the
Kingdom that includes economic reforms as well as strengthening relationships
with other Muslim states.
As an honour to Pakistan, HRH
King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz had also appointed our former COAS Raheel Sharif as
the head of the Saudi-led, Islamic Military Alliance in 2017 which shows the
strength of the relationship regardless of which party has been in power in
Pakistan as both Nawaz and Peoples party had always respected the role of Saudi
Arabia in the Islamic world.
It should also be noted that
Imran Khan, upon becoming the Prime Minister had requested the HRH Crown Prince
Mohammad Bin Salman to release hundreds of Pakistanis prisoners as an honour to
his visit to Pakistan which was instantly agreed upon by his excellency. Why
have we annoyed the kingdom with our undiplomatic approach? I also believe that
the PM stance and his remarks about Yemen should be mentioned in some context
as he criticized the role of the coalition in Yemen while Saudi Arabia had
always stood beside Pakistan.
In fact, the relationship started
deteriorating when Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg, the then-chief of staff of the
Pakistani army openly expressed support against the official policy of the then
government by extending support to Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq which was a
highly unbecoming move that annoyed Saudi leadership.
The wheel of time brought this
investigation into my lap when I was director FIA and I was asked to look into
the matter as to why Gen Aslam Baig announced the support to Sadam Hussain
annoying the then govt so I investigated it thoroughly and submitted a report
to Gen Babar, the then Interior Minister. This report revolves around a black
briefcase which was recovered from a top businessman.
I also interrogated Mr. Younas
Habib, the leading accused of the Mehran Bank scandal and a business tycoon but
I will leave the details for some other time. I however also briefed then PM
Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto about some leads to New York found from the
said black briefcase of a businessman.
Saudi Arabia was the only country
that promised on the day of the nuclear test to supply free oil of 50,000
barrels per day to help Pakistan deal with likely economic sanctions by the US.
Saudi Arabia was the first one to come in response to the 2005 earthquake in
Azad Jammu Kashmir and Northern areas of Pakistan. The then King Abdullah Bin
Abdul Aziz had announced an emergency aid package worth 133 million dollars for
Pakistan and other crucial support.
Nawaz Sharif had best of the best
relations with Saudi Arabia and so the country went out of the way to get him
out of jail under General Pervez Musharraf’s regime and then moments came when
Saudi Prince Muqrin came with a special letter from King Abdullah Bin Abdul
Aziz addressed to Nawaz Sharif to spare the life of General Pervez Musharraf
and not to register a case against him during the PPP & PML N coalition
govt. Why Saudi Arabia had to request Nawaz Sharif is a long historic part of
our history which will be written in the form of a book with surprising facts.
The fact remains that there had been great interest in Pakistan by Saudi Arabia
and this sudden change in the attitude of Saudi Arabia needs to be analysed.
Saudi Arabia is the largest
source of petroleum for Pakistan. In 2018, on the request of Pakistan, it gave
Pakistan $3 billion in aid and loans, of which $1.5 billion was deposited in
Pakistan’s central bank. “Lately, Saudi Arabia had announced to end the loan
and oil supply deal with Pakistan along with forcing Pakistan to repay $1
billion loans after the aggressive statement by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood
Qureshi that Saudi Arabia led the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) was
not doing enough to pressure India on the Kashmir issue. He in his statement
had warned the Saudi-led Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) that if it
didn’t convene a meeting of the OIC’s Council of Foreign Ministers to discuss
Indian aggression towards Jammu and Kashmir as well as the revocation of
Article 370 by India on August 5 last year, Pakistan would move to call a
meeting of Islamic countries that would stand by it on the Kashmir issue.” The
sudden undiplomatic expression by Shah Mehmood Qureshi has cost us heavily resulting
in the breakdown of our relations with Saudi Arabia. This statement was
obviously not liked by Saudi authorities, hence, they forced Pakistan to return
$1 billion. This recent unfriendly situation arose because an undiplomatic
statement of FM needs to be examined at depth should be rectified. The nation
needs to know if this statement was delivered on his own or it has the input of
the senior leaders of his party or duly cleared by the PTI cabinet. If he had
given this statement on his own, then he owes an explanation to the nation and
if this statement was given under the directions of the PM then PM needs to
come to the Parliament to give his explanation. I am left with no other option
except to raise in the house on point of order and will continue my efforts
unless I get the inside response. The govt should be open in stating as to why
our relationship with Saudi Arabia have gone bad? Why it is being kept hidden even
from the parliament? It is unfortunate that Saudi-Pak relations were dented
twice by two Pakistani individuals at positions of authority for their
unwarranted and undiplomatic statements annoying Saudi authorities. This
statement has created odd relations between the two friendly countries and it
is the right of the public to know about the real background as now,
unfortunately, we have gone to the lower end of a friendship and we need to
improve it by using all our resources. We should not lose our great friend
Saudi Arabia like this and let us hope that Pakistan tries the mediation of UAE
or Egypt to clear the misunderstandings with Saudi Arabia without wasting any
further time. We have no option except to restore our relations with Saudi
Arabia and my sources say that a western country will play its role to get it
sorted through the leaders who matter on both sides.
Note: The article was published in The Nation on September 1, 2020 and the link to the article... https://nation.com.pk/01-Sep-2020/quick-renewal-of-pak-saudi-ties
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