World

Do not waver, stand fast

Yemen conflict has provided us an opportunity to recalibrate our relations with Arab world

Editorial April 30, 2015

A recalibration of our relations with the Arab world was long overdue, and the Yemen conflict has paradoxically provided an opportunity rather than a threat. PHOTO: AFP

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the rest of the Arab world generally are still having difficulty getting to grips with the fact that Pakistan is a parliamentary democracy. The clearest indication of this was that when the chief minister of Punjab visited recently as part of the operation to apply salve to the bruised egos inside the Arab tent, he was told by the Saudis that they had not expected the government to refer the matter to parliament as their need was “urgent”. The unspoken expectation was that Pakistan would jump to the Arab call without consulting its primary legislative body, and that the prime minister would act unilaterally in committing our armed forces to an operation of dubious legitimacy. It must at the very least be doubtful that the military would respond to prime ministerial direction under such a circumstance with anything other than a polite demurral.

Further evidence of frustration to say nothing of confusion comes in the form of an informal interview with the acting Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan, Jassim bin Mohammed Al-Khalidi. He asked how Pakistanis would feel “if we do the same with you in time of crisis?” The answer to that depends very much on how ‘crisis’ is defined. At no time in the current Yemen conflict was the territorial integrity of Saudi Arabia threatened, not even remotely, and militarily the collective Arab states had more than enough hardware to damage the Houthis which they did. Pakistan is correctly committed to supporting Saudi Arabia if and when there is a threat to the holy sites, and equally correctly taking a middle line diplomatically, not committing to either side in such a way as to alienate any state — but at the expense of ruffling feathers in the Arab world which is unused to being told ‘no’. Pakistan is displaying a welcome maturity in this matter, and a more sophisticated understanding of local and regional geopolitics. A recalibration of our relations with the Arab world was long overdue, and the Yemen conflict has paradoxically provided an opportunity rather than a threat.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 1^st, 2015.

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COMMENTS (2)

Shaikh Mohommad | 8 years ago | Reply @S.R.H. Hashmi: Please do not ignore the facts on the grounds. Pakistan Army always obeys instructions from Washington. It will do anything it is asked for by USA. The Army does not want that USA stops Military aid. Remember Army's operations in Northern Pakistan killing Pakistan citizens. This is on the instructions of USA. The resolution passed by National Assembly is merely a propaganda exercise.

S.R.H. Hashmi | 8 years ago | Reply While the popular feeling indeed is that Pakistan has a parliamentary democracy, the way it is practised hardly convinces any keen observer of that. Isn't it a fact that some months back, when the Prime Minister made one of his rare appearances at the parliament, the occasion was taken as a cause for celebration, with people rushing to shake hands with the PM. PM's visits to the Senate have been even rarer. And isn't it a fact that crucial decisions are at times made by the PM after discussions with his close circle of relatives and friends. Of course, the PM takes matters to parliament as well but this is normally in case where in view of the risks involved, the PM tries to avoid personal responsibility for making the decision and spreads it thin all over, and makes it look like a collective decision. We remember the occasion when according to the script, he was to announce operations against Taliban in the National Assembly but at the last minute, he changed the decision on the pretext of giving peace negotiations another chance. Ultimately, the armed forces got fed up with his dithering and started the operation, announcing it through the ISPR. And then willy nilly, he had to own up to it and announced the operation in the assembly the next day. This also proves that despite having a supposedly parliamentary democracy, the decision-making sometimes rests away from the parliament or the leader of the house. And as for Saudi request for help on Yemen issue, the decision was again made through a much wider participation, and without input from the foreign minister, because there is none. Perhaps the government does not consider foreign affairs to be an important enough subject worthy of having a capable, full time foreign minister and thinks it can manage it with the help of few part timers, some of them over-age and well past their shelf life. No wonder the parliamentary resolution made with wider participation, including that of amateurs, proved to be one to explain which, numerous delegations had to be sent to Saudi Arabia to explain it, though with no positive outcome. It would have been incomprehensible to Saudis that if Iran, despite its problems of sanctions and all that, can involve itself in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and now in Yemen, why can't Pakistan spare some personnel for Saudi Arabia. Gulf states, and Saudi Arabia in particular, have been very helpful to us all along, and our dependence on them is not just because of millions of our citizens working there, sending back home remittance which form a substantial part of government's foreign exchange inflows. Government should have taken this opportunity to offer Saudi Arabia some armed forces personnel, augmenting this force with the recently-retired personnel, and by recruitment of additional personnel, with Saudi government paying their expenses, salaries and cost of equipping them. This could be done through a suitably-drafted defence pact with Saudi Arabia. Such a role could enable Pakistan, strongest militarily and the only nuclear power in the Muslim world, to play a larger role in the affairs of Muslim states which are presently in a state of turmoil. Pakistan could perhaps play a useful, wider role by trying to eliminate the Shia-Sunni rivalry which has destabilized the whole of Middle East and even North Africa, and was the primary reason behind the emergence of Daesh. It is a shame that Pakistan failed to take up a role which could have enabled it to be of help to Muslims in resolving their real problem, the biggest of which is the Shia-Sunni rivalry, by devising a system which could ensure territorial integrity of them all, without anyone interfering in the affairs of others. And just consider if the Middle East rulers requested India for help, and India agreed, making Pakistanis 'unwanted' in the region, with grave consequences for Pakistani expatriates personally as well as for the Pakistani government. India has close relations with Iran, and also has substantial influence in Afghanistan. If it succeeded in ousting us from Middle East as well, our isolation could be complete, and this misfortune would have been brought on to us by ourselves, simply because top leaders dithered and failed to make a courageous decision. Karachi

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