Islamabad: Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Monday reached Saudi Arabia to discuss bilateral relations, amidst the recent strain in the ties over Riyadh’s reluctance to toe Islamabad’s line on the Kashmir issue. Despite repeated requests from Pakistan to hold a foreign ministers’ meeting on Kashmir, the Jeddah-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has shown reluctance to convene such a conference, prompting an upset Islamabad to threaten that it may call a separate gathering on the issue.
Diplomatic sources here said that Gen Bajwa was accompanied by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed. The details of their engagements in Saudi Arabia have not been released, but the two are expected to hold high-level meetings to iron out misgivings.
Pakistan has been pushing the 57-member organisation, which is the second largest intergovernmental body after the UN, for the foreign ministers’ meeting since India revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August last year. However, there has not been any positive response from the OIC, the biggest bloc of Islamic countries in the world, to Pakistan’s request so far.
A major reason behind the OIC’s inaction has been Saudi Arabia’s reluctance to accept Pakistan’s request for holding a meeting specifically on Kashmir. Riyadh’s support is crucial for any move at the OIC, which is dominated by Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries.
Pakistan has been trying to garner international support against India for withdrawing Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, for the first time, criticised the Saudi government in a recent TV interview and threatened to call an OIC meeting by sidestepping the Gulf country.
Saudis avoided directly responding to Qureshi’s remarks, but reportedly stopped renewing a USD 3.2 billion oil credit facility to Pakistan despite requests from Islamabad. Pakistan has also paid back USD 1 billion loan to Riyadh which, according to some reports, the Saudis had demanded.
Riyadh has also not responded to Pakistani requests to extend the oil facility, military and finance ministry officials said. "I think our case is to convince them (Saudi) that there's no foreign policy shift," a senior Pakistani military official said.
The Saudi-led OIC has only held low-level meetings over Kashmir despite Islamabad's demands. Analysts say Saudi Arabia does not want risk its business interests in India for supporting Pakistan over Kashmir. Riyadh might also have reservations over its foe Iran's possible inclusion in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), part of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative, they said.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said last week that if Saudi Arabia did not convene a meeting on Kashmir, then Pakistan might call one involving Islamic countries that supported it on the issue.
Last year Islamabad withdrew from a forum of Muslim nations at the last minute on the insistence of Riyadh, which saw the gathering as an attempt to challenge Saudi's OIC leadership. Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi, an influential Pakistani cleric, who went to Riyadh ahead of the general's visit, was optimistic, saying Saudi King Salman bib Abdul Aziz and Crown Price Mohammad bin Salman have a long history of good relations with Pakistan. "I don't think things are so bad to say we are at daggers drawn," he said.
