Qatar-Saudi thaw good news for Pakistan

Renowned defence analyst Lt Gen (retd) Amjad Shoaib hailed the Qatar-Saudi rapprochement, saying that Pakistan position vindicated and its policy of staying neutral between the two Arab countries’ feud has paid off.

Sharing his views on the Express News’ talk show, The Review, said the diplomatic challenge was over and Pakistan was now in a better position to continue working with both the countries. During the discussion with the hosts, Kamran Yousaf and Shahbaz Rana, Lt Gen (retd) Shoaib revealed that Pakistan has close ties with both the countries and it helped Qatar in establishing its army. “Qatar’s 100 per cent army was raised by Pakistan army,” the retired general said, adding despite such connection Pakistan chose to stand neutral. After over three years of standoff, Saudi Arabia and its other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) allies this week agreed to re-open airspace, land and sea border to Qatar as part of a deal mediated by Kuwait and facilitated by the Trump administration.

In 2017, Saudi Arabia along with the UAE, and other GCC countries imposed a blockade against Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorist groups, being too close toIran and Turkey. At the time of blockade, Qatar was handed over a list of 13 demands by Saudi Arabia. However, Qatar has not accepted the demands that included closing Al Jazeera, the Qatari-funded satellite television network, curbing its relations with Iran and closing a Turkish military base. “Qatar will not sever ties with Iran or Turkey as it has not given any such assurance so far,” the defence analyst said, adding that Saudi-Iran tensions have been going on even before the Saudi and GCC countries’ stand-off with Qatar.

On Pakistan-Saudi relationship, Shoaib said that Pakistan could face two issues: Saudi’s demand for returning loan – that Pakistan has already returned to some extent – and, in the long run, the kingdom could support India over Pakistan on Kashmir issue. “Principled stance will pay off someday,” Shoaib said. The defence expert opined that Pakistan should focus on keeping its foreign policy free from any influence, adding that it should prefer an independent foreign policy over remittances coming from any particular country.In 2017, when Saudi Arabia had imposed a blockade against Qatar, the Saudi king at that time had asked Pakistan to side with Riyadh. Pakistan, mindful of the sensitivities, had decided otherwise and said it would remain neutral.

That stance by Pakistan also antagonised Saudi Arabia and it was one of the several reasons caused a hiccup in ties. Meanwhile, the hosts also discussed India beginning its two-year term as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) from on January 1 as well as India heading some key UNSC committees in its term that will have implications for Pakistan.

India will chair the crucial Taliban and Libya sanctions committees and the Counter-Terrorism Committee of the UNSC during its tenure as a non-permanent member of the 15-nation UN body.During the programme, they also discussed Pakistan’s trade deficit that widened to 32 per cent in December. Till last month, Rana explained, Pakistan’s exports peakedto $2.35 billion but the imports also surged to 19-months high of $5 billion. Resultantly, he said, Pakistan’s trade deficit widened 32% in December despite the much-trumpeted increase in exports, which was not sufficient to match a surge in imports.