“No Pakistani troops are being sent or being deployed in Saudi Arabia as reported in a section of the media,” said Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Maj-Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa on Twitter.
No #Pakistani troops being sent to, or being deployed in #Saudi Arabia as reported in a section of media
— Gen(R) Asim Saleem Bajwa (@AsimBajwaISPR) August 3, 2014
The ISPR DG’s reaction came after certain reports in the Western media claimed Saudi Arabia was looking up to its allies Pakistan and Egypt to send in troops to secure its border with Iraq.
“The Kingdom is calling in favors from Egypt and Pakistan,” an adviser to the Saudi government told The Times. “No one is certain what ISIS has planned, but it’s clear a group like this will target Mecca if it can. We expect them to run out of steam, but no one is taking any chances.”
IS, which was formally known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), has a strong control on Iraq’s western borders near Syria and Jordan. With the group taking one town after the other in Iraq, the southern border with Saudi Arabia could be the next possible target.
Last month, The Telegraph had reported that the Saudi government sent in an additional 30,000 soldiers to the desert border to stop any advance from IS.
Interestingly, IS or ISIS has often been seen as a group that flourished under the patronage of the Saudis. There have been allegations in the international community that Saudi Arabia covertly supplied weapons to the group to fight Syrian President Bashar al Assad.
“ISIS has been a Saudi project,” The Atlantic had quoted a senior Qatari official back in June. However, Saudi Arabia has rubbished all such accusations.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 4th,2014.
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@ Sohraab, understand the on ground realities and current mindset of these specific countries (KSA and Libya), tune into their local/regional tv channels, and then you will understand why what i am saying makes absolute sense, especially from a marketing standpoint. As i mentioned earlier, any form of intervention must be treated as a commercial venture. These things are not cheap. The last time KSA had any sort of intervention, you know what happened. The outcry over "kuffar" forces being on Saudi soil etc. High time for PK to commercialize some form of a moderate, disciplined, apolitical, sunni army for hire. Instead of getting emotional over semantics/sunni/shia. Many other countries and org's are way ahead and reaping the rewards (Erik Prince, UAE)
@MK: Sunni Nuclear armed power?????? I thought we were Islamic Nuclear armed power!!
@ Usman786, what on earth are you talking about, as if you could just send 100k troops there. If Pakistan did, then the Saudis might as well hand over KSA and call it Pakistani Arabia. There is a danger of a coup. Dont get us involved in fighting ISIS. Dont get involved in their drama, on ground reality amongst Saudis is very different to the "muslim ummah" most Paks like to see it as.
If Pak does get involved it should be purely for very lucrative commercial purposes AND to safeguard the Blessed and Holy lands in the West. Dont sell yourselves short.
Whilst we're at it, Pak should be sending its forces to energy powerhouse Libya too. As that is a much easier operation, and the commercial upside there is bigger than KSA. Light, sweet crude can be supplied in lieu of security payments. World security will soon be dominated by private security firms, Pak should take full advantage of its competitive advantages. Sunni nuclear armed power.
ET plz dont censor this comment.
Out of 650,000 troops, why can not we send 100,000 to Saudia as per their requirement. This will help meet their security needs, guard sacred places and reduce the burden on our tax-payers. Else they may turn to other countries whose presence we will not like and later repent. If we can not spare this number, raise them to meet their requirement.
Seems saudi tactics have back fired .