LONDON: Pakistan’s relationship with the United Arab Emirates and SaudiArabia is being reshaped by its Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
The Middle East Eye wrote in a detailed analysis that Pakistan Chief ofArmy Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa has “quietly reset the army’s relationswith the Middle East, starting with Saudi Arabia and the UAE”.
Written by Kamal Alam, the Visiting Fellow at the UK’s Royal UnitedServices Institute (RUSI) and lecturer at several military staff colleges,the analysis noted that the recently concluded trip of Saudi Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salman (MBS) is being seen as a landmark visit with strategicimplications not just for their bilateral relationship, but also forPakistan’s role in the Middle East because the COAS has made Pakistan astrategic and equal partner, rather than a proxy in a the conflict.
The analysis said that while the media headlines have focused on PM ImranKhan’s public embrace of Muhammad Bin Salman, on the sidelines, the man whohas reset the relationship between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia – and,Pakistan and the UAE – has been Bajwa.
“For decades, analysts and policymakers have written about the Saudi rolein Pakistan, with a focus on their military partnership. The former Saudiintelligence chief, Prince Turki bin Faisal, described their bilateralrelationship as likely being one of the closest in the world ‘without anyofficial treaty’”.
The piece noted that in the past military and civilian leaders havebenefited from Saudi largesse and received personal favours but under Bajwathat’s not the case anymore.
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It said: “Never before have the Saudis invested so heavily in Pakistan atthe state level, without benefiting a specific politician or a general.However, Bajwa is not putting the state before individual; hence, winningadmiration amongst Arab leaders”
The analysis argued that Pakistani-Saudi ties have been gradually movingout of the personal domain and into the strategic and “one of the keyreasons for this strategic push has been the defence diplomacy of JavedBajwa”.
It said that till a few years ago, relations between Pakistan, Saudi Arabiaand UAE were sour over Yemen to the extent that the UAE went so far as tosay Pakistan would pay a “heavy price” for its “ambiguous stand” and led amedia campaign against Pakistan when Islamabad voted in favour of Turkeyfor Expo 2020.
