Pakistan is one of those fickle-minded countries that have no regards for its honour. If a certain country doesn’t toe Pakistan’s line, then it shamelessly goes and sits on another country’s lap. A similar episode is now unfolding in the Muslim world where Pakistan and its state machinery is riling up its old masters and giving it the finger, knowing well and truly that in times of crisis they are the ones it turns to help. The newly-found love of Pakistan is Turkey, and in pleasing the radical regime of Erdogan, Pakistan is nagging Saudi Arabia, which sooner or later might come down heavy on it. In a nutshell, Pakistan is hammering the final nail in its coffin of existence in the Muslim world.
On Thursday, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had an outburst on television as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) refused to take up Paksiatn’s demands to hold a Foreign Minister’s meet to discuss the Kashmir issue and the abrogation of Article 370.
Meanwhile Pakistani Foreign Minister is threatening Saudi Arabia to support them on Kashmir or they will ‘move ahead’ without Saudi. Is Pakistan threatening Saudi Arabia ? :) pic.twitter.com/e0q3c4jptd
— Sunanda Vashisht (@sunandavashisht) August 6, 2020
In a television interview, Qureshi gave an ultimatum to Saudi Arabia, saying that Pakistan will have to look for other options if the OIC doesn’t come forward in support of its stance on Kashmir. Inadvertently threatening Saudi Arabia who leads the chair in OIC, a 57-member organization could have serious repercussions for Pakistan.
Qureshi said that, OIC- led by Saudi Arabia, should decide if it wants to stand with Pakistan on such a sensitive issue, as Pakistan can’t wait for Saudi Arabia’s support anymore.
Saudi Arabia doesn’t want to meddle in Kashmir
Saudi Arabia, the de-facto leader of the Muslim world has been steadfast in its stance that the Kashmir issue is India’s internal matter and consequently deferred Pakistan’s plans in OIC.
A troubled Pakistan, however, is unwilling to listen and is looking to appeal to the Islamic Umma and hold a confabulation of its own.
Pakistan’s defiance to Saudi Arabia is a rather new phenomenon, but, the question presents itself– why is Pakistan going against a country whose Crown Prince was once chauffeured around by Prime Minister Imran Khan himself?
The simple answer is– Turkey. Pakistan’s growing proximity with the rabidly Islamist state named Turkey has given it the courage, albeit the false courage to question Saudi Arabia.
Turkey, under the rule of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has grown extremely warm relations with Pakistan in the recent times, much to the dismay of Arab and Gulf nations, particularly the global Islamic hegemony – Saudi Arabia.
Overenthusiastic Erdogan’s Turkey is incessantly irritating the Arabs, with its dream of reinvigorating the glory of the erstwhile Ottoman Empire. It has repeatedly undermined Saudi Arabia’s position in OPEC and OIC—the two Muslim bodies where Saudi Arabia is the boss.
Pakistan wants to; obviously, irk India at each and every International platform, however, the relations between the Arab world and India since PM Modi’s ascension to the largest democratic throne in 2014 has only gone from strength-to-strength. These relations reached a new pinnacle when UAE conferred its highest civilian honour on PM Narendra Modi.
https://twitter.com/it_ends_with_us/status/1263056747742277632
When the Boycott UAE hash tag, originated from Turkey, had trended on Twitter, Pakistani netizens and public out of the blue, moronically started trending the same hashtag and supported Turkey.
Pakistan had tried a similar antic earlier this year
Even at a virtual meeting of the OIC in May earlier this year, Pakistan had undertaken a campaign, unsuccessfully, to set up an informal anti-India working group within the OIC, to probe the ‘supposed’ Islamophobia rising in India.
Reports had then suggested that at the behest of Saudi Arabia, UAE and Oman— Maldives had thrashed the radical Islamist state left, right and centre for its brazen attempts of using the OIC as a platform to single out India and push its dirty agenda forward.
The unkindly response from the Arab World further pushed Pakistan onto Turkey’s lap. From the American masters to Arab masters to Chinese masters and now Turkish masters, the identity crisis of Pakistan is phenomenal and a case-study on point.
Saudi Arabia loathes Turkey
Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent critic of the government, was allegedly killed by Saudi intelligence agents at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018—allegedly at the behest of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman himself. However, out of the entire Muslim world, it was Turkey that singled out Saudi Arabia for the murder.
Turkey has lately emerged as Saudi Arabia’s arch-nemesis and tried its level-best to implicate Saudi Arabia by taking up the matters in the international press. MBS and Saudi Arabia didn’t like such antics of Turkey and have been at loggerheads ever since then.
The rift was also evident earlier this year in April, when Riyadh banned Ankara’s state-run news agency — Anadolu Agency and TRT broadcaster. The ban was a reaction to Ankara’s decision to seek a life sentence for 20 suspects involved in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.
The situation in Libya has further drawn the line between two nations where Saudi Arabia and UAE are supporting Khalif Haftar against Turkey’s GNA.
Pakistan should gauge its actions
However, Qureshi and Pakistan need to gauge their words and actions before speaking against Saudi Arabia, as currently, it is under the huge debts of the Arab world.
According to the Pakistani Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Pakistan has taken a loan of $1 billion from China to repay a loan of the same amount taken from Saudi Arabia.
Desperate Pakistan did so because had it defaulted the payment, Saudi Arabia would have reduced its financial support.
The Arab world is where the Pakistani PM turns to whenever he needs to fill his begging bowl.With billions of dollars of debt on Pakistan, it needs to be seen how long the rebellion of Pakistani lasts. Millions of Pakistanis work in Saudi Arabia and UAE, and if it miffs its masters in the Middle East by constantly colluding with Turkey, then a whole lot of suffering could be coming to PM Imran Khan in Pakistan’s way.