Pakistan’s role in Yemen crisis

The crisis provides a unique opportunity to bring the sectarian divide on the political table of the Muslim world

In his recent public address, Prime Minister Imran Khan has offered to mediate the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The previous government led by Nawaz Sharif first declared neutrality in the Yemen crisis in 2015, but subsequently decided to send troops to Saudi Arabia in 2018 on condition that they will be deployed only within Saudi Arabia. The premier’s offer to mediate has bolstered the role that Pakistan can and should play in the Muslim world.

Where internal politics has always divided Yemen into South and North starting with the crisis in early 1500 to relatively recent toppling of Zaidis in 1962 ending their almost 1,000 years of rule in northern Yemen, many Pakistanis were alarmed with the recent Houthi advances in southern Yemen due to the country’s proximity with Saudi Arabia. Fall of Sanaa into the hands of Houthi rebels in 2014 and toppling of the Saudi-backed government in Yemen made many Pakistanis worried that Houthis pose a direct threat to Saudi Arabia. The Houthis are primarily Shia Muslims of Zaidi School.

Although the Yemen crisis is utterly political, many see Iranian role in the Houthi uprising because of their faith and due to the Iranian hostility towards the existing regime in Saudi Arabia. The Iranian role was highlighted by Ali Reza Zakani, an MP who is known to be close to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, when he boasted that Sanaa had become the fourth Arab capital in Iranian hands — after Beirut (through Hizbollah), Damascus (through President Assad) and Baghdad (through Iraq’s democratically-elected government).



Regardless of the nature of conflict in Yemen, Sharif quickly reacted to the crisis by saying that any threat to Saudi Arabia’s territorial integrity would evoke a strong response from Pakistan. Political commentators in Pakistan showed a mixed response when Saudis requested Pakistan to join their military coalition against Houthis. As Saudis were using their influence to require Pakistan to join the military coalition, a joint session of Pakistan’s parliament passed a resolution in 2015 announcing neutrality and calling for a political settlement of the Yemen crisis. The resolution was widely praised.

The most important aspect of the parliamentary resolution, however, was that it called for Pakistan’s neutrality ‘so as to be able to play a proactive diplomatic role to end the crisis.’ The resolution called for continued efforts for peaceful resolution of the Yemen crisis, and for bringing unity of Muslim Ummah in cooperation with the leaders of other Muslim countries.

Whilst the resolution was passed unanimously in a joint session of parliament and attracted broad support, the resolution surprisingly did not seek constitutional support and legitimacy. The resolution did explicitly state that in accordance with the Principles of Policy set out in Chapter 2 of the Constitution, it is the duty of Pakistan’s government to act for strengthening bonds with the Muslim world and for promoting international peace. Article 29 of the Constitution places direct responsibility on each organ and authority of the state of Pakistan, and of each person performing functions on behalf of an organ or authority, to act in accordance with the principles of policy. Although the resolution echoed the principle set out in Article 40 of the Constitution, it did not specifically state this important Constitutional principle in support of the resolution.

This omission was supposedly not deliberate. Why would parliament not seek legitimacy and support for such an important national and international policy statement from the Constitution? This could have been another example of lack of understanding by political elite of the country as to what is required of them by the Constitution.

The Yemen crisis provides a unique opportunity to bring the sectarian divide on the political table of the Muslim world, the place that offers the best prospects for a positive outcome.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 28^th, 2018.

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