After the long fling with Turkey bombed, Pakistan heads back to Saudi with a begging-bowl

• Pakistan, the country which is always ready to sell its loyalty to the highest bidder, is again at the door of Saudi Arabia.
• Recently, Saudi Arabia made Pakistan pay back a part of its 3 billion dollars loan signed during Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Pakistan.
• Now, Pakistani establishment is sucking up to the Saudi establishment again, as chips are down for Turkey and Malaysia and it cannot expect a single penny from those countries.

Almost a year ago, Pakistan was helping Turkey in reinventing the caliphate. Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, was orchestrating Islamic Triangle with Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia, which was supposed to counter the hegemony of Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia. However, one year down the line, the situation has completely changed and the dream of caliphate revival has been thrown down the dustbin.

Mahathir is out of power, the Turkish dream of caliphate revival seems a mirage, and Pakistan is too poor and powerless to make any difference. Imran Khan has now realized the changing global dynamics, and is out to Saudi Arabia, with a begging bowl.

Also read: Mediator with a begging bowl? Pakistan wants to ‘mediate’ between sworn enemies Iran and Saudi Arabia

The Islamic Triangle strategists made a mistake and ruled out the future of crude oil, too soon. A year ago, the prices have crashed and experts anticipated that oil-dependent nations like Saudi Arabia would have no future. However, with the exponential rise in oil prices in the last few months, the natural resource-rich nations like Saudi Arabia, Russia, Australia, are back in limelight.

Pakistan, the country which is always ready to sell its loyalty to the highest bidder, is again at the door of Saudi Arabia.

“Khan is in Saudi Arabia on a three-day visit for Middle East Green Initiative (MGI) Summit. Prime Minister @ImranKhanPTI arrives in Madina on 3-day official visit to Saudi Arabia. The PM was received by Deputy Govenor of Madinah Prince Saud bin Khalid Al-Faisal, and was given a warm reception,” tweeted Prime Minister’s office of Pakistan.

During the visit, Khan is expected to push for trade deals with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Given the rise in oil prices, Pakistan is not able to foot the bill of oil imports and is now pursuing trade deals with Gulf countries to ensure that it gets some largesse from these nations.

Recently, Saudi Arabia made Pakistan pay back a part of its 3 billion dollars loan signed during Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Pakistan. The latter was forced to pay back 1 billion dollars four months ahead of its repayment period. Comically, Pakistan took a loan of $1 billion from China to pay back the Saudis. Saudi Arabia is demanding that Pakistan also pay back another $1 billion of the loan. The $3.2 billion oil credit facility extended to Pakistan has also expired, with Riyadh paying no heed to Pakistani requests to extend the oil facility.

Also read: “Send something for Vatan na?” After begging to the whole world Pakistan begs its foreign nationals

Now, Pakistani establishment is sucking up to the Saudi establishment again, as chips are down for Turkey and Malaysia and it cannot expect a single penny from those countries.

“Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have long-standing and historic fraternal relations, rooted deep in common faith, shared history and mutual support,” the PMO said, noting that Saudi Arabia was home to more than two million Pakistanis who were contributing towards the progress and prosperity of both the countries.

“The visit of the prime minister will carry forward the positive momentum of cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia,” the statement added.

Pakistani leadership has a remarkable ability to sell its loyalty to the highest bidder, and it has been from time to time, sitting in the laps of the United States, China, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia, according to its needs. With Turkey down, Imran Khan is now again trading the loyalty of his country, to Saudi Arabia.