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Old Sunday, May 28, 2017
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Default Reviewing Nawaz Sharif's Time at the 'Muslim NATO' Summit in Riyadh

Reviewing Nawaz Sharif's Time at the 'Muslim NATO' Summit in Riyadh


By Umair Jamal

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s presence at the so-called Muslim leader’s summit, which was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, last week, has generally been called a fiasco. These criticisms have come mainly due to two reasons: first, because of Sharif’s inability to secure his inclusion on U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s agenda and, second, because of his failure to register Pakistan’s position as a country that has suffered greatly from terrorism and fought valiantly against it. Much of the criticism that has come in the wake of Sharif’s visit to Riyadh is unnecessary and uncalled for due to three reasons.

First, the summit, which has widely dubbed an “Arab Muslim NATO” meeting, didn’t at any stage involve issues which are critical to South Asia’s security landscape. In fact, the summit was an effort on Saudi Arabia’s part to reinforce its leadership position in the Gulf, Middle East, and the rest of the Islamic world. On the other hand, Trump’s choice of opting for Saudi Arabia as the country of his first foreign visit mainly stems from the latter’s willingness to invest billions of dollars in U.S. infrastructure. Moreover, Trump was fleeing scandal at home and was greatly interested in securing alliances abroad that could shore up his domestic and economic policies. It is important to note that of all regional states, it is Saudi Arabia that benefits most from Trump administration’s policy preferences in the Middle East, which, among other things, involves the isolation of Iran. In the grand scheme of things, the expectations that Pakistan’s representation at the summit should have extended beyond a mere presence reflects a poor understanding of a strategic situation.

Second, people highlighting Sharif’s failures have based their argument on the premise that since Trump, during his speech, mentioned “India as a terror victim state” and ignored “Pakistan’s role in combating extremism,” Pakistan had failed to achieve its objectives at the summit. Beyond optics and rhetoric, Trump’s comment considering India being a victim of terror should be viewed in the larger context of rapidly changing geopolitical and geoeconomic realities of the South Asian region. Pakistan’s growing economic closeness toward China and Russia that has also facilitated Beijing and Moscow in gaining political foothold and influence in Afghanistan and doesn’t bode well for the United States and India’s interests in the region.

It is important to note too that the United States and India have been working closely on forging a partnership to counterweight the growing role of China – a close ally of Pakistan – in the South Asian region. A week ago, India boycotted China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ global infrastructure project while the United State, a month ago, rejected Russia’s invitation to join a peace conference on Afghanistan, which was held in Moscow. In this milieu, if Trump used the occasion to clarify his country’s position vis-à-vis India, then this should be looked at in the context of both countries bilateral relations and their emerging alliance against the China-led block, which Pakistan appears to have hedged its bets on. For instance, the Trump administration is considering converting military grants to Pakistan into loans, which is hardly a result of Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia; rather, this is a policy change that is by and large affected by the above mentioned circumstances.

Third, the argument that Riyadh should have rescued Pakistan at the summit due to their close historic relations is absurd to begin with. While Riyadh continues to project the country’s ‘Islamic political identity’ as an essential part of its foreign policy, Saudi Arabia has long forgone its policy of favoring historic relations over its strategic interests. Particularly, since the emergence of the new leadership in Riyadh, the country has shown that it’s willing to strike military, economic, and diplomatic partnerships and deals wherever it suits its interests. Saudi Arabia recently signed number of mega economic and military pacts with India. Moreover, the country’s covert overtures toward Israel and both countries’ cooperation on containing Iran has become an open secret. Now India is a country that Pakistan considers its arch rival and Israel is a state that Pakistan doesn’t even recognize. This trend is likely to further deepen. From this perspective, it would be folly to argue that Pakistan should expect favors from Riyadh when it comes to its relations with India, the United States, or even Israel for that matter.

In essence, when it comes to the implantation of Pakistan’s foreign and security policy, the civilian government in the country has effectively no control. However, what Pakistan’s civil and military needs to learn from the experience is the craft of balancing its relations between Saudi Arabia and countries that Riyadh considers to be its nemeses. If Sharif’s attendance at the summit is to be called a fiasco then it should be called a fiasco in terms of Pakistan relations with Iran. Pakistan needs to strategically reconsider its approach when it comes to dealing with Saudi Arabia and Iran, for Islamabad cannot afford to choose one country over the other.

All in all, Prime Minister Sharif’s presence at the summit is a reminder that Pakistan needs to look inward to plug loopholes that continue to plague the country’s foreign policy choices and preferences. The eventual success or failure of the visit should be based on the changes that Pakistan may or may not introduce in its foreign policy.

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Default Why the Trump-Led Islamic Summit in Saudi Arabia Was a Disaster for Pakistan

Why the Trump-Led Islamic Summit
in Saudi Arabia Was a Disaster for Pakistan

By Kunwar Khuldune Shahid

The Donald Trump-led Arab Islamic American summit, held in Riyadh this weekend, was supposed to be Pakistan’s moment to cash its first check on the diplomatic investment it has made in the Saudi-led Islamic military coalition – which former Army Chief Raheel Sharif militarily heads. After all, the long standing U.S.-Saudi relationship has helped Islamabad ally itself with both, and at a time when the duo was spearheading an “Islamic” summit it was natural for Pakistan to expect a share of the spotlight.

With this in mind, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif spent the entire duration of his flight to Riyadh rehearsing his address to the summit, which included leaders of 55 Muslim-majority states. It was time to drive home Islamabad’s perspective on countering Islamist terrorism – the theme of the event – considering Pakistan’s unique role as both victim and counterterrorism proponent. Raheel Sharif heads the counterterror militia, and the country is fourth on the Global Terrorism Index in terms of the most affected states.

Yet Nawaz Sharif wasn’t invited to address the summit. Neither was Raheel Sharif.

It was bad enough that Pakistan didn’t get a say in what was predictably reduced to a Gulf gathering, rather than an “Islamic” summit. Trump’s speech itself further added salt to the wounds.

Not only did the U.S. president identify India as a victim of terror, he failed to acknowledge Pakistan as one. This at a time when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has stayed the execution of Kulbhushan Jadhav – an alleged Indian spy convicted of terrorism in Pakistan – and when deeming Kashmiri separatist militancy synonymous with “Pakistan-sponsored terrorism” is the official New Delhi stance.

It very well might not have been his intention, but by singling out India alone as a victim of terror among the South Asian states, Trump upheld New Delhi’s narrative on Kashmir, and completely shelved Pakistan’s claims of “India-sponsored terrorism,” specifically in the volatile province of Balochistan.

This would’ve been a setback at most gatherings, but for the U.S.-Saudi leadership to silence Pakistan’s narrative at an “Islamic” summit was particularly damaging, considering that Islamabad has long held Islam as a foreign policy tool and has based its support for the Kashmiri struggle on religious affiliation as well.

Trump also snubbed a request for a meeting with Nawaz Sharif, whom he only met with on the sidelines of the summit, while having well publicized talks with many other leaders.

As the U.S. president joined Saudi King Salman in being high on anti-Iran rhetoric, asking the Muslim world to isolate the nation that Trump said had “fueled the fires of sectarian conflict and terror,” Pakistan’s repeated claim of the Saudi-led coalition not targeting a particular sect or state was significantly dented as well.

In jumping aboard, and militarily spearheading, the Saudi-led military alliance, Islamabad has alienated Tehran to a point that Iran is now openly threatening attacks inside Pakistan to uproot what it calls are “safe havens for Sunni jihadists.”

With its decades-old racist foreign policy vis-à-vis Afghanistan backfiring, ties with India continuing to plunge, and now Iran earmarking it as an integral part of the Saudi camp, Islamabad is surrounded by a hostile neighborhood that is finding common ground in uniting against militancy originating in Pakistan.

And as Pakistan’s immediate neighbors accuse it of supporting terrorism, the snub for Pakistan at a counterterror conference, hosted by the country that Islamabad is going out of its way to protect against the much-touted “Shia crescent,” means that there are no buyers for Pakistan’s narrative on its role against terrorism.

Despite Saudis talking up Pakistan as a “leader of Muslim Ummah” whenever they need military support, Riyadh has never backed Islamabad’s stance on Kashmir, or even condemned Kabul for what Pakistan portrays as Indian voodoo forcing Afghanistan to act out against a “Muslim brother.” In fact Saudi Arabia has multiple defense agreements with India – the country Islamabad claims is responsible for funding terrorism in Pakistan.

While Washington sidelining Islamabad following Trump’s election was long coming, it is the continued lack of Saudi support at the international level that has reduced Pakistan’s status for the Kingdom of al-Saud to that of a security guard, without any contribution in narratives.

If Islamabad still needs a reason to abandon Islam as a foreign policy determinant, it only needs to look at its relations with its “Muslim brothers” in the neighborhood, and the consistent Saudi refusal to even allow Pakistan a say in the global Muslim narrative.

This is especially true when China, the only state that is backing Islamabad and giving it an economic lifeline, has staunch anti-Muslim policies in the region that is going to help Pakistan sustain itself.

Via: The Diplomat
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