Pakistan tilts to Saudi Kingdom despite claims of balanced ME policy

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan has said that Iran and Pakistan are two close neighbors and Islamabad wishes to enhance its relations with Tehran.

He said that former Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Nawaz Sharif began a process of regional recalibration of Pakistan’s foreign and security policies with a view to give geo-economics a weight equal to geo-security. “PM Sharif espoused a vision of mutual prosperity, and began a process of building up Pakistan’s relations with its immediate neighbors as well as with Central Asia,” he said adding that Pakistan’s Middle East policy in recent years has been a balancing act between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Hsaid this while speaking at a seminar on ‘Contemporary Relations between Pakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia: Present Challenges’ organized by Strategic Vision Institute (SVI) in Islamabad.
However, as a matter of fact, instead of a balance ME policy, Pakistan continues to prefer Saudi Kingdom to Iran on all key issues despite deleterious fallouts from its alliance with Saudi kingdom such as their Saudi-US Afghan policy and the latest Saudi stabbing in the back of Pakistan at the Paris meeting of Financial Action Task Force of the international community due to which Pakistan will be placed in terror watch list.
The Defence Minister admitted the fact at Islamabad seminar that from a security perspective, Pakistan’s Middle East policy has been underlined by its longstanding close relations with Saudi Arabia and by the focus on limiting the domestic fallout of sectarian tensions stemming from the Saudi Arabia-Iran rivalry.
“Pakistan remains wary of being drawn into power struggles along sectarian lines as they are currently taking place in the Middle East,” said Khurram Dastgir Khan.
The official expressing his views said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited Iran in 2014 and Pakistan hosted the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in 2016 and 2017.
He noted in August 2016, Islamabad and Tehran also agreed on joint counterterrorism efforts to tackle the treat of militant group Daesh.
“Pakistan Army Chief visited Iran at the end of 2017, followed by visits from National Security Advisor and the Minister for Defense Production,” he said.
He said Pakistan offers various avenues for joint economic ventures. “Pakistan’s Gwadar Port and Iran’s Chabahar Port can act as sister ports for accruing economic benefits for uplift of the area and providing economic opportunities to the people,” noted the official.
The minister went on to say that Pakistan maintains an ideological affinity besides deep military and economic relationship as well as strong leadership ties with the Saudi Arabia also building economic cooperation and counterterrorism links with Iran.
“Pakistan armed forces personnel have been deputed to Saudi Arabia for many decades on training and advisory role-under longstanding bilateral agreements and protocols,” he said.
He noted that driven by the highest leadership of both countries, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have recently been in a process of updating and widening their historical partnership into new areas, particularly economic and industrial cooperation.
“Yet it is a matter of record that in 2015, government of Pakistan with the support of Parliament, to avoid being implicated directly in the Yemen conflict,” Khurram Dastgir Khan said.
He said Pakistan is striving towards a stable neighborhood, especially for China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to succeed. He said that the government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has pursued a strategy that balances the geo-political ambitions with its geo-economic interests.
“Pakistan deeply values its partnership with Saudi Arabia and wishes to enhance its relations with Iran,” said the minister.
He said, ‘We have always been forthcoming to play a mediatory role and diffuse tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The minister warned that increasing tension in this region, if combined with broad ethnic and religious conflicts could negatively impact interests of all countries.
“Pakistan at the same time, expects Iran to have more understanding on Pakistan’s position towards its partnership with Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states,” he said.