The epic humiliation of Pakistani Foreign Minister in UAE

Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Minister, who was recently on a two-day visit to the United Arab Emirates, carried forward his illustrious legacy as he took to making an abject clown of himself and his country. Earlier, the Pakistani Foreign Affairs Minister had single-handedly ensured that the terror state he represents loses favour with the Arab countries and Gulf powers, complemented of course, by India’s aggressive Middle East push. Essentially, the visit by Shah Mahmood Qureshi to the UAE was aimed at achieving some domestic appeal, rather than a real-time and constructive change in diplomatic ties between the two countries.

The Arab world has dumped Pakistan collectively, and emphatically. A variety of reasons have contributed to the same, which TFI has been reporting on extensively. Now, UAE’s latest snub to Pakistan only stamps authority over such assertions. During the uneventful visit of the Pakistani Foreign Minister to the Emirates, little was achieved by Pakistan, and the whole visit made for some good domestic press and a perception reinstallation within the minds of Pakistanis that their country is not being boycotted at a diplomatic level by the Muslims countries of the world too.

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A major point of content between Islamabad and Abu Dhabi has been the latter’s stoppage of issuance of visas to Pakistanis since last month, resulting in tremendous hardships for ordinary Pakistani citizens. While Pakistan hoped that Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s visit would result in the UAE lifting the ban on new Pakistanis entering its territory, Islamabad failed miserably in its endeavour. What’s worse, Abu Dhabi made it known that the ban was here to stay, even if for a “short term” under the pretext of the prevailing Chinese pandemic.

Obviously, Abu Dhabi continues to issue visas and allowing travellers from countries like India and others, despite their numbers in terms of Covid-19 cases being higher than those of Pakistan. The reality is, the UAE stopped issuing new visas to citizens of Pakistan and at least 12 other mostly Muslim majority countries out of security concerns. And while Qureshi completely failed to change the mind of the UAE on the issue of Pakistanis getting visas to enter the Arab country, Islamabad was further humiliated as during a meeting between the Foreign Ministers of the two countries, Pakistan’s national flag was nowhere to be seen. The UAE’s flag alone was visible, further adding to the snub which the terror state received.

Ideally, this should have been reason enough for Pakistan to silently let the embarrassment pass. However, having wasted aviation fuel and a decent amount of money on its Foreign Minister’s visit to the Arab country, Islamabad did not find itself in a position to let the storm it inflicted upon itself quietly pass. Therefore, Qureshi’s joke of a visit is now being hailed as a moral victory of sorts domestically. It must be remembered that the ban on Pakistan came in the backdrop of UAE normalising ties with Israel. Many believe that the visa ban is a way of strong-arming Pakistan into submission, forcing it to normalise ties with the Jewish state as well.

Pakistan lost its game in Abu Dhabi the moment Shah Mehmood Qureshi, at a press conference organised to mark the culmination of his unwanted visit to the UAE, said that India is planning a surgical strike against Pakistan. Qureshi claimed that India was doing so to divert attention from its “internal conflicts and policy failures”. He highlighted multiple issues like the Kashmir bogey, ongoing farmers’ protests, coronavirus crisis and condition of religious minorities. The UAE realised early on that Pakistan was using the visit to spread anti-India rhetoric, which is why it unabashedly snubbed the terror state.

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Meanwhile, regular and customary statements by the UAE regarding ties between the two countries are being hailed by the Islamabad and Rawalpindi-based establishment as a testament to Pakistan’s growing de-alienation around the world, particularly among the Islamic Arab and Gulf countries. Of course, only Pakistan has the calibre and capacity to celebrate a humiliating ‘official’ visit by its dignitaries to other countries as a victory of sorts.