The infallible brotherhood
FEDERAL Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin revealed on Friday that Saudi Arabia has agreed to make available $150 million credit on a monthly basis for providing oil facility on deferred payment.
It will provide $3.6 billion in cash for two years for allowing Islamabad to purchase oil from anywhere for meeting its requirements. This gesture by the Saudi government reinforces the infallible brotherhood between the two countries.
The ties between the two countries premised on religious, cultural, political, commercial and strategic affinities have progressed from strength to strength since the establishment of Pakistan in 1947.
The Saudi rulers have invariably helped Pakistan in surmounting its financial and economic woes irrespective of who was at the helm of affairs. That reflects the strength and depth between the two countries.
The relations between the two countries have attained higher trajectory after the visits of Prime Minister Imran Khan to Saudi Arabia.
It promised a package of $ 6 billion comprising $ 3billion as balance of payment support for one year and supply of $ 3 billion worth of oil on deferred payment for three years.
The Saudi leaders also confirmed interest in setting up oil refinery at Gwadar as well as development of mineral resources which will entail considerable direct Saudi investment in Pakistan.
The agreements for the contemplated Saudi investments in Pakistan were signed during the visit to Pakistan by the Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman. The Kingdom envisages investment of well over $ 10 billion in Pakistan.
Perhaps it is also the right occasion for a recap of the history of Saudi assistance and help to Pakistan in the past and what Pakistan has done for her.
In the seventies when Pakistan needed to rebuild its economy in the backdrop of war with India the late King of Saudi Arabia Shah Faisal extended liberal help besides importing labour from Pakistan which contributed immensely towards correcting the economic aberrations.
Currently 1.9 million Pakistanis are working in Saudi Arabia and are a source of precious foreign exchange remittances to Pakistan.
In the late eighties and early nineties also the Saudis helped Pakistan in tiding over the febrile economy.
They extended liberal assistance when a devastating earthquake that struck Besham in Northern Areas in 1974, the 2005 earthquake in Azad Kashmir and the floods that hit Pakistan inflicting wide spread destruction.
The Saudi leaders as custodians of the holy places of Islam are held in the highest esteem by the people of Pakistan as well as its leaders and by virtue of their unique status and the reverence that they enjoy, they have many a times also helped in resolving political feuds within Pakistan, as its true friends
In the wake of the spiraling prices of oil in the international market in the later part of 2007 and the first quarter of 2008, Pakistan was adversely affected as it had to bear the burden of 40% increase in its oil bill that further exacerbated the already volatile economic situation.
The Saudi government offered one year credit facility on the pattern of 1998 when after the nuclear explosions, the US had imposed economic sanctions against Pakistan.
The Kingdom approved the continuation of an arrangement stared in 1998 for delivery of free crude oil to Pakistan which imported 250000 barrel of oil per day from the Kingdom. The Saudi loan of US$ 2 billion was also converted into a grant.
While Saudi Arabia like a true friend and a brotherly Muslim country has shown exceptional commitment to support and assist Pakistan in times of adversity besides lending unqualified support to the Kashmir cause and her position in regards to peace process with India, Pakistan has also been in the forefront in assisting Saudi Arabia to ward off external threats to her territorial integrity and internal security concerns.
Pakistan Army contributed to the establishment of Saudi armed forces in 1960. It assisted the Royal Saudi Air Force with the introduction of their first fighter jets.
Fighter pilots of the Pakistan Air Force flew aircraft of the Royal Saudi Air Force to repel an incursion from South Yemen in 1969.
When the renegades seized Masjid-al Haram in 1979 it were the Pakistani commandos who restored the Saudi administration over the Holy Mosque. During the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War Pakistan sent troops to protect the Islamic holy sites.
In the 1970s and 1980s, approximately 15,000 Pakistani soldiers were stationed in the kingdom. Pakistan also formed a key intermediary in the Al-Yamamah arms deal with the United Kingdom
In early April 2012 Pakistan played a role in defusing tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia over Bahrain.
On the situation in Yemen and threats to Saudi territorial integrity Pakistan has shown complete solidarity with Saudi Arabia and vowed to defend the holy land at all costs if it was attacked.
Former Army Chief of Pakistan General Raheel Sharif is currently heading the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition also formerly referred to as the Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism comprising 41 participant countries from the Islamic world.
The organization aims to coordinate efforts to fight terrorism in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt, Afghanistan and threats to territorial integrity of Saudi Arabia.
In the current volatile situation in the Middle East and its fall-out for Saudi Arabia, Pakistani support to the Saudi rulers is pivotal to the ability of the Kingdom to ward off those dangers.
The relations between the two countries notwithstanding rapid changes in the geo-political and security situation in the Middle East are poised to gain strength with every passing day.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are indispensable for each other and the leaders of the two countries and their people understand that imperative unambiguously. The bonhomie between them is perennial.
— The writer is former Director General Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, based in Islamabad.
