Islamabad, 17 (UNI) For a country running out of foreign reserves, facing a yawning current account deficit and fighting to secure its financial future, Pakistan is putting on quite a show for Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler – Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
And it’s easy to see why: Prime Minister Imran Khan needs money, and he needs it fast, says a BBC News report.
MBS, as he’s known, is coming to town promising billions — with Pakistan the first stop on a four-country Asian tour that also includes Malaysia, Indonesia and India.
But money is just one dimension of a relationship that goes much deeper.
The last time a Saudi royal visit was marked with this much fanfare was in 2006, when then Saudi ruler King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz toured the nuclear-armed nation.
And security is being taken seriously — with Imran Khan making a point of saying that he is personally taking care of the arrangements. The visit comes amid heightened tensions in the region, after India blamed Pakistan for the deadliest attack on its security forces in Kashmir in decades.
JF-17 Thunder fighter jets will escort MBS’s fleet on Sunday as they enter Pakistani airspace – with all other flights grounded.
Hundreds of five-star rooms in Islamabad are believed have been booked out for the 1,000-strong delegation. There are even reports that thousands of pigeons have been caught for a welcome ceremony.
The Pakistani government, which last year organised an auction to raise money by selling off its fleet of luxurious cars, has arranged 300 Toyota Land Cruisers.
And for the two-day trip, the Saudi crown prince will stay at the official residence of the prime minister – something that no state guest has ever done before.
The central bank has only $8bn (£6.2bn) left in foreign reserves and faces a balance of payments crisis.
Since he was sworn in last August, former star cricketer Imran Khan has been aggressively pursuing help from friendly countries in order to reduce the size of the bail-out package that Pakistan is likely to need from the International Monetary Fund, under very strict conditions.
The country is seeking its 13th bailout since the late 1980s.
The visit of MBS comes soon after Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan was in town.
The United Arab Emirates pledged to provide $6 billion to support Pakistan’s battered economy. In total, Pakistan is hoping to get $30bn in loans and investments from the two Arab kingdoms, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
It’s unclear exactly what deals will be signed while MBS is in town – but the crown jewel is a new $8bn oil refinery in southern port city of Gwadar.
Gwadar is the nerve centre of China’s $60bn China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Chinese money is much valued by Pakistan’s government but analysts say it comes with strings attached – Chinese workers normally build Chinese projects. There are also concerns about Beijing having too much influence.
Funds from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf are hence very welcome.
While it is easy to see Pakistan as a country which is benefiting from the largesse of its allies at the cost of its sovereignty, the story is not so simple.
Saudi Arabia needs Pakistan too.
The crown prince’s tour comes at a peculiar time for the kingdom, which is currently facing a global reputational crisis of its own due to the humanitarian catastrophe of its war in Yemen and the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in its Istanbul consulate.
Against this backdrop, the current tour can be seen as a charm offensive by MBS, who is seeking to bolster relationships with dependable allies while doling out cash.
And it’s important not to forget that Pakistan is very important to the Saudis.
The two countries have a military relationship which goes back decades. When Islam’s holiest site in Mecca was attacked by militants four decades ago, it was Pakistani troops who were deployed to eliminate them.
“There has always been the assumption that Pakistan would be able to provide manpower if Saudi Arabia faced a major security crisis or a major attack,” says Shashank Joshi, a South Asia expert and defence editor of The Economist magazine.
“Saudi Arabia, like some of the other gulf countries, has lots of cash but not necessarily a particularly strong army. Pakistan has not very much cash but a very strong and powerful army.”
He adds that it has long been suspected – but never proven – that the two sides have a longstanding nuclear relationship that Saudi Arabia could draw upon if it one day needed access to the technology – for example if regional rival Iran became a nuclear-armed power.
The Saudis have a strong religious influence in mostly Sunni Muslim Pakistan and after the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980s, they were able to set up a large network of religious seminaries, in part to counter Iran’s influence.
In fact, a week before MBS’s visit to Pakistan, the main avenues of Islamabad were dotted with posters and banners commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Iranian revolution. Since then, those have been replaced with pictures of MBS.
The presence of Iran as Pakistan’s next door neighbour is another reason why the Saudis want to keep up the relationship.
“Saudi Arabia would like to ensure Pakistan remains closer to Riyadh than it does to Tehran,” says Mr Joshi.
It’s true that Pakistan’s decision not to heed Saudia Arabia’s call to join its war in Yemen four years ago damaged the relationship. But this visit – coming amid a generational shift in the Saudi leadership – “represents a turning of the page”, says Pakistani newspaper columnist Mosharraf Zaidi.
What makes the timing of this tour even more significant is that it comes at a time when geo-politics in the region are shifting.
Unprecedented talks are taking place to bring an end to the war in Afghanistan – where Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, India and the US all have a stake.
The next meetings between Taliban and US officials could take place in Islamabad on the day MBS leaves – and the Saudis do not want to be silent spectators sitting on the sidelines.
The high-level talks were previously held in Qatar – the Gulf country with which Saudi Arabia has an ongoing rift – and Saudi officials will want to find out exactly what has been going on from Pakistan, says Joshi.
“Saudi Arabia will be keen that as the peace process continues that it is factions [of the Taliban that they are close to] who are empowered, rather than those who are close to Iran.”
On his trip MBS will also be meeting Pakistan’s powerful army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa – where the Taliban issue is expected to be discussed.

The Hague: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will hold public hearings in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case from Monday at The Hague during which India and Pakistan will present their arguments before the top UN court, which was set up after World War II to resolve international disputes.

Jadhav, 48, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017. India moved the ICJ in May the same year against the verdict.

A 10-member bench of the ICJ on May 18, 2017 had restrained Pakistan from executing Jadhav till adjudication of the case.

The ICJ has set a timetable for the public hearing in the case from Febraury 18 to 21 in The Hague and Harish Salve, who represents India in the case, is expected to argue first on February 18.

The English Queen’s Counsel Khawar Qureshi will make submissions on February 19 from Islamabad’s side. Then India will reply on February 20 while Islamabad will make its closing submissions on February 21.

The hearings will be streamed live on the Court’s website as well as on UN Web TV, the United Nations online television channel.

It is expected that the ICJ’s decision may be delivered by the summer of 2019.

“India will present its case before the court. Since the matter is subjudice it is not appropriate for me to state our position in public. Whatever we have to do, we will do at the court,” Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said last week in response to a question.

Pakistan’s Attorney General Anwar Man soor would lead the Pakistani delegation at the ICJ while Director General South Asia Mohammad Faisal would lead the Foreign Office side.

Ahead of the hearing, a senior Pakistani official said that his country is committed to implement the decision of the ICJ in the Jadhav case.

“We are fully prepared with our strongest evidence being the valid Indian passport recovered from Commander Jadhav with a Muslim name,” the official said.

Both India and Pakistan have already submitted their detailed pleas and responses in the world court.

In its written pleadings, India accused Pakistan of violating the Vienna Convention by not giving consular access to Jadhav arguing that the convention did not say that such access would not be available to an individual arrested on espionage charges.

In response, Pakistan through its counter-memorial told the ICJ that the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations 1963 applied only to legitimate visitors and did not cover clandestine operations.

Pakistan had said that “since India did not deny that Jadhav was travelling on a passport with an assumed Muslim name, they have no case to plead.”

Pakistan said that India did not explain how “a serving naval commander” was travelling under an assumed name. It also stated that “since Jadhav was on active duty, it is obvious that he was a spy sent on a special mission”.

In its submission to the ICJ, Pakistan had stated that Jadhav is not an ordinary person as he had entered the country with the intent of spying and carrying out sabotage activities.

India has been maintaining that the trial of Jadhav by a military court in Pakistan was “farcical”.

Pakistan claims that its security forces arrested Jadhav from restive Balochistan province on March 3, 2016 after he reportedly entered from Iran.

However, India maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Navy. Jadhav’s sentencing had evoked a sharp reaction in India.

India had approached the ICJ for “egregious” violation of the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963, by Pakistan in Jadhav’s case.

Pakistan had rejected India’s plea for consular access to Jadhav at the ICJ, claiming that New Delhi wants the access to get the information gathered by its “spy”.

However, Pakistan facilitated a meeting of Jadhav with his mother and wife in Islamabad on December 25, 2017.

In the pictures issued by Pakistan after the meeting, Jadhav was seen sitting behind a glass screen while his mother and wife sat on the other side. They spoke through intercom.

Later, India accused Pakistan of disregarding cultural and religious sensibilities of Jadhav’s family members under the pretext of security by removing the mangal sutra, bangles and bindi of his mother and wife before they could meet him.

India also asserted that Jadhav appeared coerced and under considerable stress during the tightly-controlled interaction at the Pakistan Foreign Office.

After the meeting, Pakistan issued a video message of Jadhav in which he is seen thanking the Pakistan government for arranging a meeting with his wife and mother. PTI

Beijing:15 Feb, China on Friday condemned the Pulwama militant attack carried out by a Jaish suicide bomber but once again declined to back India’s appeal to list the Jaish’s chief Masood Azhar as a “global terrorist” by the UN.

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

“China has noted the reports of suicide attack. We are deeply shocked by this attack. We express deep condolences and sympathy to the injured and bereaved families,” spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry Geng Shuang told a media briefing here.

“We firmly oppose and strongly condemn all forms of terrorism. We hope relevant regional countries will cooperate to cope with the threat of terrorism and jointly uphold regional peace and stability,” Geng said.

When asked about China’s stand on the listing of Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council, he said: “As for the issue of listing, I could tell you that the 1267 Committee of Security Council has a clear stipulation on the listing and procedure of the terrorist organisations”.

“JeM has been included in the Security Council terrorism sanctions list. China will continue to handle the relevant sanctions issue in a constructive and responsible manner,” he said in an apparent reference to External Affairs Ministry’s appeal to all members of the UN Security Council to list Azhar as a global terrorist.

China, a veto-wielding member of the UNSC and a close ally of Pakistan, has repeatedly foiled India’s bid to list Azhar as a global terrorist, saying there is no consensus in the top organ of the world body on this issue.