Saudis turn to religion to bend Pakistan's Yemen policy

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Saudi Arabia sends top religious figures to sway Pakistani public on Yemen intervention



Frustrated by Pakistan's insistence on remaining neutral on the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen, the Gulf nation has looked to exert religious influence over its South Asian ally.

Shaikh Khalid Ghamidi, an Imam at Islam's holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, is to deliver a Friday sermon at Pakistan's largest mosque, a week after he rushed to Pakistan to lobby the support of Pakistani citizens in the Saudi battle against Yemen's Shia Houthi rebels.

Ghamidi's visit followed an earlier one by the religious affairs minister, Sheikh Saleh bin Abdul Aziz, immediately after Pakistan's parliament angered Arab allies by urging the government not to become involved in the Yemen conflict; which has been seen as some as proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

They met mainstream religious leaders and reached out to ordinary citizens through public and religious gatherings; something without much precedent in the decades-long relationship between the two allies.

"The parliamentary resolution is Pakistan’s internal matter but it seems the public opinion does not match with that [resolution]," Shaikh Ghamidi said in an interview with Pakistan’s Geo TV on Sunday. "I thank the Pakistani nation for its support to the Saudi action in Yemen. I truly believe that Pakistanis will always stand alongside Saudi Arabia in testing times."

The United Arabs Emirates was openly critical of Pakistan with its state minister saying Pakistan would pay a "heavy price" for neutrality.

Shaikh Ghamidi has exploited every opportunity to defend the Saudi invasion of Yemen, telling a conference organized by Pakistani religious parties that the Houthi rebels intended to attack Islam's holy cites of Mecca and Medina.

Given that Saudi Arabia has in the past aided Pakistan, especially in energy and economic crises, some Pakistanis were angered that the government did not accept the request to join military operations in Yemen.

"This [resolution] is a huge blunder committed by Pakistani government and politicians," said Usaid Rehman, Karachi University student. "Saudi Arabia has never shown neutrality in testing times [for Pakistan] but when it needed our help, we are staying neutral."

Islamabad has on several occasions insisted that it would directly intervene if Saudi Arabia's own territory was threatened by the Houthi rebels.

Among Pakistan's Shia community there is more support for Pakistan's stance. One concern Pakistan had about joining the operation was the fear of increased sectarian violence between the Sunni majority and significant Shia minority.

"Mecca and Medina are equally scared for Shias. The Saudi government is trying to exploit the religious sentiment of Pakistanis. Otherwise, there is no threat to Mecca and Medina. It’s just a Saudi invasion of Yemen," said Allama Nasir Aftab, a prominent Shia leader.

Pakistan's government has desperately tried to patch up the damage caused to diplomatic relations by its neutrality, sending several delegations to Saudi Arabia, including one led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The Saudi-led intervention began on March 25 and involved a heavy campaign of airstrikes until April 21, when they were officially ended. The military operation, however, continues, involving ground troops and Yemeni anti-Houthi groups.

"Time is running out for the government. It’s better for the government to itself announce support for Saudi action in Yemen otherwise the people of Pakistan will do that," said Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman Khalil, a campaigner in support of the Saudi operation, told thousands at a rally in the city of Lahore.

Several other religious groups also support Saudi Arabia, especially politically-inclined parties which have mobilized their supporters for large rallies.

Security analyst Rahimullah Yusufzai said Saudi Arabia's tactics are beginning to put the Pakistani government under pressure but that it is unlikely to backtrack on the resolution.

"Use of non-state actors to put pressure on the Pakistani government is unnecessary. The diplomatic pressure and anger shown by Saudi Arabia, and its allies is already enough to soften Islamabad’s stand," said Yusufzai.

Saudis turn to religion to bend Pakistan's Yemen policy Anadolu Agency

Pakistan will not go inside yaman these tactics r useless.Imam Qaba look like a political mouthpiece of Saudi Govt Unfortunaitly.We have helped saudies alot in Bahrain and their r other so many examples this time also we will defend saudi teritorial integrity but going in Yaman,Dont even think about it!!!

Pakistan Resolution is a sham since Saudi Arabia always stood by Pakistan in all wars and disasters. The military is stretched so will have to raise 2 more divisions to support them. We still need to stand by them to stop Iran.

Nothing will change

Pak_Sher said:

Pakistan Resolution is a sham since Saudi Arabia always stood by Pakistan in all wars and disasters. The military is stretched so will have to raise 2 more divisions to support them. We still need to stand by them to stop Iran.

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We will defend Arabia against invasion but not invade another country with Shia-Sunni conflict. Saudi can send as many Imams as they want but Pakistan has already decided with full public opinion and parliamentary support. Pakistan will not intervene in a military conflict that is deemed to be a clash between Shia-Sunni Muslims and that includes Yemen, Iraq and Syria. All the political parties in Pakistan even those that are very close Saudi Arabia voted against sending troops to Yemen.

It is incorrect that Saudi, UAE or any other arab country has come to aid us whenever it is needed. They talk like we have a responsibility to join the war in Yemen on their side but a history will tell us where any gulf country has ever come to our aid.

1) Pakistan fought at least 5 wars with India. No arab country provided a single ounce of support, now they are talking like they owe us something and we have to come to their aid in Yemen just because their ground forces are either too weak or they are racist... as Pakistani blood flowing for someone elses war is cheap.

2) There are more Indians working and living in the GCC than Pakistanis. Both Saudi and UAE have a large population of Indians and smaller concentrations of Pakistanis. If they wanted to help us they would use only Pakistani labour. We have a large enough labour force to abide.

3) Afghanistan was a disaster and that was the last time we sided with saudi arabia to invade another country. Look how that turned out. The locals hate us and if we go running into Yemen to take bullets meant for Saudis we will suffer.

4) We are fighting a war on terror at home, at times the LEJ has been funded by Saudi sheikhs. We already have a shia sunni problem at home, daily killings at the hands of the Taliban and we are eager to join yet another useless war.

5) Saudi wants a secular institution, the Pakistan Army, to screen out shia soldiers and use only sunnis in the fight, are we going to surrender the secular structure of the army?

6) Pakistan has no position in the Arab League. India is an observer member in the Arab League however. Why is Pakistan not there, because we are slaves?

PS edit

7) The Arabs are regularly given hunting licenses and some have hunted over a hundred birds, which bird, the houbara bustard that is at risk of extinction.

8) Now lets explore our help to the Arabs. We sent pilots (Sattar Alvi and Saiful Azam) in the 6 day war and in the Yom Kippur war.Even that with some cheap syrian aircrafts. We are one of the only sides with kills against Israeli pilots who are far more powerful than the middle eastern state armies,

So the onus is on Arabs to prove good allies.

One Muslims is brother to Another , so by this logic we will not kill any yemani

Hi,
Perfect logic, if they're using religion, then they have been so wrong. since they came into existence 100 years ago

Pak_Sher said:

Pakistan Resolution is a sham since Saudi Arabia always stood by Pakistan in all wars and disasters. The military is stretched so will have to raise 2 more divisions to support them. We still need to stand by them to stop Iran.

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So we should meddle in a problem that isn't ours?

Now why would we do that

ArsalanKhan21 said:

We will defend Arabia against invasion but not invade another country with Shia-Sunni conflict. Saudi can send as many Imams as they want but Pakistan has already decided with full public opinion and parliamentary support. Pakistan will not intervene in a military conflict that is deemed to be a clash between Shia-Sunni Muslims and that includes Yemen, Iraq and Syria. All the political parties in Pakistan even those that are very close Saudi Arabia voted against sending troops to Yemen.

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Everyone except the extremists/traitors like Sipah e Sahaba which are anti national, bigoted hate groups (murderers)

Too bad, Pakistani's don't understand Arabic

Djinn said:

Too bad, Pakistani's don't understand Arabic

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Haha.
Arabs should build strong militaries. Its not the military hardware i am talking about. Why dont they get trained in usa military academies?

Shamain said:

Arabs should build strong militaries. Its not the military hardware i am talking about. Why dont they get trained in usa military academies?

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The Arabs started to recruit Turks into their army during the Abbasid Caliphate and then within a century Turks established their rule in Middle East which ended in 1915 Ottoman decline.

Damage has already been done between the relations of to countries but what is more threatening is the Support of Pakistani awaam to assist SA coalition and the government stance. This will raise SA eyebrow about the behaviour of Pakistan.

haviZsultan said:

It is incorrect that Saudi, UAE or any other arab country has come to aid us whenever it is needed. They talk like we have a responsibility to join the war in Yemen on their side but a history will tell us where any gulf country has ever come to our aid.

1) Pakistan fought at least 5 wars with India. No arab country provided a single ounce of support, now they are talking like they owe us something and we have to come to their aid in Yemen just because their ground forces are either too weak or they are racist... as Pakistani blood flowing for someone elses war is cheap.

2) There are more Indians working and living in the GCC than Pakistanis. Both Saudi and UAE have a large population of Indians and smaller concentrations of Pakistanis. If they wanted to help us they would use only Pakistani labour. We have a large enough labour force to abide.

3) Afghanistan was a disaster and that was the last time we sided with saudi arabia to invade another country. Look how that turned out. The locals hate us and if we go running into Yemen to take bullets meant for Saudis we will suffer.

4) We are fighting a war on terror at home, at times the LEJ has been funded by Saudi sheikhs. We already have a shia sunni problem at home, daily killings at the hands of the Taliban and we are eager to join yet another useless war.

5) Saudi wants a secular institution, the Pakistan Army, to screen out shia soldiers and use only sunnis in the fight, are we going to surrender the secular structure of the army?

6) Pakistan has no position in the Arab League. India is an observer member in the Arab League however. Why is Pakistan not there, because we are slaves?

PS edit

7) The Arabs are regularly given hunting licenses and some have hunted over a hundred birds, which bird, the houbara bustard that is at risk of extinction.

8) Now lets explore our help to the Arabs. We sent pilots (Sattar Alvi and Saiful Azam) in the 6 day war and in the Yom Kippur war.Even that with some cheap syrian aircrafts. We are one of the only sides with kills against Israeli pilots who are far more powerful than the middle eastern state armies,

So the onus is on Arabs to prove good allies.

Click to expand...

You fought four wars with India - 1948, 1965, 1971 and 1999. When was the fifth war ? Arabs could not have made any difference in 1948, 1965 and 1971.

There are more Pakistanis working in the GCC states as percentage of Pakistan's population. Looking at the overall export earnings Pakistan is far more dependent upon GCC labor remmitances than India.

I never understood why India needs to be an observer at Arab League. We are not an Arab state. Neither is Pakistan.

I am sure some Pakistani bureaucrat got paid for all those hunting licenses

Kao Boy said:

Damage has already been done between the relations of to countries but what is more threatening is the Support of Pakistani awaam to assist SA coalition and the government stance. This will raise SA eyebrow about the behaviour of Pakistan.

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The decision was made in national interest after long deliberations and agreement with all political parties in the parliament. Nobody in Pakistan has supported sending army in Yemen.

wiseone2 said:

There are more Pakistanis working in the GCC states as percentage of Pakistan's population

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The Arabs have replaced Pakistanis with cheaper labor from India, Bangladesh, Philippines, etc. It is a business where low overhead counts more than religious ties. Indian were looking forward to Pakistan army divisions to be stuck in Yemen, tension with Iran and Shia-Sunni tension in Pakistan. The UAE and Saudi Arabia anger and possible aid cut for Pakistan is also good for India. So in any event it was advantage for India. We decided what was in our national interest.