Pakistan

Saudi defence minister to visit Islamabad tomorrow

Mohammed bin Salman will discuss ‘finer details’ of the 34-nation coalition, says official

Kamran Yousaf January 08, 2016

Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia’s deputy crown prince and defence minister, Mohammed bin Salman, is arriving in Islamabad on Sunday to discuss Pakistan’s cooperation in the 34-nation coalition of Islamic countries the Kingdom has recently formed to ostensibly fight terrorism and extremism.

His visit comes just four days after Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al Jubeir travelled to Islamabad and held wide ranging talks with Pakistan’s civil and military leaders, including Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and army chief General Raheel Sharif.

Protest against Pakistan's role in Saudi-led military coalition

A government official told The Express Tribune that the Saudi defence minister is coming to discuss the ‘finer details’ of the coalition. He is expected to meet his Pakistani counterpart along with the army chief and the prime minister.

“We welcome the Saudi initiative in line with our policy to support all regional and international efforts to counter terrorism and extremism,” the official added.

The official made it clear that Pakistan will not become part of any action that will be against any specific country. “We support a political solution to the Syrian problem without interference from the outside,” the official maintained.

Pakistan welcomes Saudi 'anti-terror' coalition

Asked whether Pakistan would spare troops for the coalition, the official said details were being worked out. However, Pakistan’s role would remain restricted to intelligence sharing, counter-terrorism training and other activities in the coalition, the official said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 9^th, 2016.

COMMENTS (24)

AmericanMuse | 8 years ago | Reply @Babbarsher Khan: Only the nephew and the son are running Saudi Arabia. Salman, the father, is demented.

Zahid | 8 years ago | Reply Welcome Saudi Arabia Defence Minister to Pakistan hope we will have more stronger relationship between Saudi and Pakistan

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Faryal Minhas | 8 years ago | Reply Pakistani support is essential as Saudis have always helped Pakistan in time of great need.

Naeem Khan | 8 years ago | Reply Pakistan must not be sucked into this sectarian conflict of Saudi Arabia. They may be our friends but have done tremendous damage to Pakistan by exporting their brand of Islam, the Wahabism to Pakistan and Afghanistan. They know that they are no match for Iranians, Iranians are highly educated and motivated and Saudis are at fault here. They should not have beheaded the Shia cleric because of political reason as the cleric was criticizing this corrupt monarchy in Saudi Arabia. We have no business working against our neighbor because the neighbor has been a good neighbor and has stood by us in all the wars with India. Above all Pakistan has a large Shia population and it the government responsibility to look after it's population instead of persecuting them for some corrupt monarchy sitting far away.

Naeem Khan | 8 years ago | Reply @Ch. Allah Daad: Look up the history during 1965 war with India. Your leaders has vested interest in Saudi Arabia but remember Pakistan's interest come first at all cost. You are so blind partisan that can't see beyond the Sharif brothers.

Babbarsher Khan | 8 years ago | Reply Our land of the pure is in hot demand now, wow! The ruling mand-aqls first speak/announce the garbage in public and then try to salvage the situation by asking for help from the Old Faithful. The way the trio of Salman, the nephew and the son are running the country, I am sure we will not have to wait for too long to see the disintegration of this fake state of Saudi Arabia. Salman will most probably die in office, the others sure will be driven out (to Pakistan?) of the country once the country gets into full turmoil mode. Their economy is already showing sign of strain and with oil prices predicted to fall further or at least expected to remain at current level, the situation is not going to get better. At best of the times All-Sauds have been using oil wealth to spread militant jihadist ideology all over the world and eliminate moderate form of Islam practice in most of the Muslim lands. Now with three idiots are making sure end comes faster than rest of the world is ready to handle.

Zahid | 8 years ago | Reply Another family member in a major post. Also looks too young to know much about defense. It's time for the royal family to hold free and fair elections and then move on to Europe. As a PR show Pakistan needs to talk a lot instead of doing action. If they ask for help setting up education institutions Pakistan should go all out.

Jibran | 8 years ago | Reply Let's start Zia ul Haqqi once more. *Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.*

Pakhtun | 8 years ago | Reply GOD, All the roads in Islamabad will be blocked again. Why dont these Arabs go back and play with their camels instead of interfering in regional matters on behalf of their master USA?

Ch. Allah Daad | 8 years ago | Reply Whatever we do and stay neutral, Iran will never be happy. Iranians hate us and has never helped us in past and they won't do it in future. Whereas Saudis have always helped us like brothers in past and rescued us from many troubles. Staying neutral will be stupid.

Ahsan | 8 years ago | Reply I plead to the commentators here stop criticizing the Saudis. They are our best friends and we should work with them. As @Malik Saab says we get very little economic benefit from Iran. If we stay neutral then the Saudis will fund allies who are more trustworthy. This will the end of a special friendship which took decades to build.

Kashif | 8 years ago | Reply Saudi Arabia is a sinking ship...Pakistan should stay away from this disaster in the making.

Jamal | 8 years ago | Reply Keep this guy out of this country - Saudis are nothing but trouble for Pakistan.

Random Passerby | 8 years ago | Reply @Malik Saab: We should not be part of this conflict at all. Our economic interests lie in integration with South and Central Asia. Both Iran and Saudi Arabia see Pakistanis as cannon fodder. We have nothing to gain from this conflict and everything to lose. Let the Iranians and the Arab fight this out themselves if they want to.

Defence Analyst | 8 years ago | Reply Government should handle this matter very carefully and tell them, we can play the role of mediator between you and Iran but we cannot become the part of war between both countries.

NHA | 8 years ago | Reply It is after over 250 years that Iran is wielding influence in large parts of ME & Levant. This makes it arrogant. But Arabs still hold an edge in terms of military and economic prowess. US Defence Secretary said few years back that 'even UAE Air Force is strong enough to knock out Iranian military'. But this is not the time to settle scores and re-draw borders. It is against 1.7 billion Muslims to create conflict among Muslim countries.

abreez | 8 years ago | Reply Pakistan should tell Saudi Arab that if current Arab resources are not enough to fight a war with Arab enemies then Pakistan’s participation won’t help more. Pakistani armed forces need rest, they’re fighting for last 14 years, and that’s enough for any army. Saudi Arabia Military age 18 years of age Available for military service 8,240,714, age 15–49 (2015) Fit for military service 4,725,514, age 15–49 (2015) Reaching military age annually 700,000 (2015) Active personnel 233,000 (ranked 24th) Deployed personnel 1,000 in Bahrain and 100,000 in Yemen Budget $80.4 billion (2015) Percent of GDP 11.4% Union Defence Force (UAE) Military age 18 years Available for military service 3,658,577, age 15–49 Fit for military service 3,072,125, age 15–49 Reaching military age annually 51,858 Active personnel 65,000 (ranked 64th) Budget US$15.7 billion in 2010 (ranked 18th) Percent of GDP 7.3% Bahrain Defence Force Active personnel 13,000 (approximate) Budget $1.365 billion (2014) Percent of GDP 3.9% (2014) Military of Kuwait Military age 18 Available for military service 900,745 (2010 est.), age 15–49 Fit for military service 857,292 (2010 est.), age 15–49 Reaching military age annually 22,000 (2005 est.) Active personnel • • Kuwaiti Army 20,000 • Kuwaiti Navy 3,200 • Kuwait Air Force 5,000 (ranked 88th) Reserve personnel 31,000 Budget US$10 billion (2015) Qatar Armed Forces Military age 18 years of age Available for military service 389,487 males, age 15–49 (2010 est.), 165,572 females, age 15–49 (2010 est.) Fit for military service 321,974 males, age 15–49 (2010 est.), 140,176 females, age 15–49 (2010 est.) Reaching military age annually 6,429 males (2010 est.), 5,162 females (2010 est.) Active personnel 11,800 total personnel • Army 8,500 • Navy 1,800 • Air Force 1,500 Budget US$1.913 billion (2010) Percent of GDP 1.5% (2010) Egyptian Armed Forces Military age 18–49 years old Conscription 1–3 years Available for military service 41,157,220, age 18–49 Fit for military service 35,305,381, age 18–49 Reaching military age annually 1,532,052 Active personnel 438,500 (ranked 11th) Reserve personnel 479,000 Budget E£56.1 billion (~US$7.85 billion) Jordanian Armed Forces Military age 18–49 years old Conscription Suspended indefinitely in 1992; all members are regular volunteers. Active personnel 110,700 (2013 est.) Reserve personnel 60,000 Land Forces, 5,000 Joint (2013 est.) Budget $2.5b (2015 est.) Percent of GDP 7% (2015 est.) Royal Moroccan Armed Forces Military age 20 Active personnel 195,800 (2012) (ranked 26th) Reserve personnel 150,000 (2012) Budget 29.4 billion MAD (3.37 billion $) (2012) [2][3] Percent of GDP 3.47% Sudanese Armed Forces Military age 18 Active personnel 109,300, with paramilitary forces of an estimated 17,500 Reserve personnel 85,000. Budget $4 Billion (2001 est.) Percent of GDP 3.0% (2005 est.) Pakistan Armed Forces Military age 16–49 years old Conscription None Available for military service 48,453,305 males, age 16–49 (2010 est.), 44,898,096 females, age 16–49 (2010 est.) Fit for military service 37,945,440 males, age 16–49 (2010 est.), 37,381,549 females, age 16–49 (2010 est.) Reaching military age annually 2,237,723 males (2010 est.), 2,104,906 females (2010 est.) Active personnel 617,000 (ranked 6th) Reserve personnel 550,000 (ranked 15th) Budget $7.6 billion (2015–16) (ranked 25th) Percent of GDP 3.5% (2015)

Feroz | 8 years ago | Reply What are the deals being struck behind closed doors ? Saudi FM and DM are not visiting Pakistan to taste Samosas, what they want and what has been agreed to should be disclosed on the floor of Parliament --- citizens must know.

Malik Saab | 8 years ago | Reply Our economic interests lie with Saudi Arabia. Our one million workforce is employed there. If one person support one family of 5, then imagine our 5 million population is benefiting from Saudi employment. So we can stay neutral in any regards. Moreover UAE employs another million. If Saudia Arabia is urging us to side with them, then we have to side with them. On the other hand with Iran we neither have any significant exports, nor we buy any oil from them. So come out of Religious bias to think objectively. Our neutral stance can hurt our economic interests. We have to safeguard to jobs of our people in the Middle east.

Pinto | 8 years ago | Reply Pakistan will support Saudi to wipe out the Shia community, unfortunate but true. Shia are educated and less radical.

haider | 8 years ago | Reply the way Saudi is carrying out their job, they are taking it seriously! but Iran is having a damn care attitude towards Pakistan! It won't be surprising if Pakistan is inclined towards SA!. I was expecting Iranian FM in Islamabad as well...

Sodomite | 8 years ago | Reply @Munir: Exactly right. From all international accounts this man is least experienced to get a position way beyond his capabilities because he is a son of the King. The stoning Haj tragedy was triggered by his flippant arrival and attitude. Wars in Yemen and Syria have gone out of control under his watch. Saudis are trying to rope Pakistan into a genocidal war. Given our leadership's leaning this watershed moment will be remembered as the undoing of Pakistan.

ironMan! | 8 years ago | Reply Why Pakistan not asking IRAN not to interfere in Syria and Yemen? Pakistan should be neutral not trying to act as such,

Munir | 8 years ago | Reply Saudis are now acting like small school kids who mess up with the senior boys at school and later run to their big brothers for help. First the FM and now the DCP.

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