Pakistan army chief returns empty-handed from Saudi as Crown Prince

Islamabad: Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Bajwa has returned to the homeland after a failed Saudi trip. Army chief Bajwa, who had gone to beseech Saudi, was refused a meeting by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. At the same time, the Pakistan media is pointing out that this meeting was concluded without any major announcement. Therefore, it is being said that the relations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are not the same as before.

Army Chief Bajwa and General Faiz Hameed, the Chief of Pakistan intelligence, reached Saudi on Monday in an attempt to salvage the deteriorating relations with Saudi. It was being said that General Bajwa would meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and try to diffuse the tension created between the two countries. The Pakistani media had even claimed that a new financial aid to Pakistan would be announced by Saudi during the visit of General Bajwa. But Pakistan faced extreme disillusionment in the next few hours. Saudi Army Chief General Fayyadh Al Ruwaili met the Pakistan army chief. Whereas, Deputy Defence Minister Prince Khalid Bin Salman met the Pakistan army chief as a representative of the Saudi royal family. But no major announcement was made in this meeting. Pakistani analysts are claiming that General Bajwa had to return to his homeland, empty-handed.

A few days ago, Pakistan had targeted the OIC over the Kashmir issue, supporting Turkey. Pakistan had announced that it would convene a meeting of the Islamic countries supporting the Kashmir issue unless OIC called for a meeting on the subject. After this Pakistani misadventure, Saudi demanded repayment of USD 1 billion, out of the loans given to Pakistan. Pakistan made a fresh borrowing from China and repaid Saudi. While it was being felt that the matter would settle down, the statements of Pakistan Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, increased the troubles further for Pakistan. Qureshi became a laughing stock with his statement that Pakistan provided this aid to Saudi as there was a cash crunch in Saudi. But Saudi showed Pakistan its status by stopping the oil supply, following the statement made by Qureshi. Therefore, Pakistan Army Chief General Bajwa immediately planned a Saudi visit to beseech Saudi. Pakistan had a lot of expectations from General Bajwa’s visit.

But Pakistan fell on its face when Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman refused to meet General Bajwa. At the same time, Saudi declined to allow any concessions to Pakistan regarding the repayment of loans. Therefore, it has become mandatory for Pakistan to repay the loans to Saudi in the next few months. Moreover, while General Bajwa was in Saudi, Pakistan Foreign Minister Qureshi has done the work to increase the tension with Saudi further by meeting the Qatar Ambassador to Pakistan. Against all this background, the demand for resignation of Qureshi is becoming stronger in Pakistan. But the analysts in Pakistan are pointing out that despite Qureshi’s resignation, relations with Saudi will not be restored to the old status.