News Analysis: Is Pakistan losing KSA to India?

'Countries like UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman have begun to see the potential of Indian investors. Indian foreign ministers have started visiting these countries frequently and they bring handsome packages for them. Meanwhile, Pakistan is focused more on the opposition than its frail economy'

Army Chief of Saudi Arabia Lt. Gen. Fahd Bin Abdullah Al-Mutair is on a visit to India. This is the first time a ruling Saudi army chief is visiting India, which is why Indian media is calling this tour historic.

Back at home, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Vice President Maryam Nawaz criticized the premier regarding his foreign policy. She claimed that Pakistan is all alone in the international community. And she has a point to some extent.

Pakistan used to get loans from countries during the times of Nawaz Sharif from various friends including Saudi Arabia but none of them ever took Pakistan for granted. The $1.5 billion loan that Saudi Arabia gave to Pakistan in the era of Nawaz Sharif was also termed as a gift to the people of Pakistan rather than a financial favour. But ever since Imran Khan rose to power, there has been a drastic change in the attitude of the international community towards Pakistan. All the allies that were once rooting for Pakistan are now slowly drifting towards India. So how come we went from being besties with Saudi Arabia to this ambivalent phase where we are not even sure that we should call Saudi Arabia a brother or not.

Saudi Arabia used to have close ties with Pakistan. It supported Pakistan on all international forums whenever we needed their support.

The former intelligence chief of Saudi Arabia once said that the relations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are the closest in the world.

After nuclear tests, when the whole world frowned on Pakistan and was raising concerns, it was Saudi Arabia who was there for our support. Not only this, they provided Pakistan with an enormous oil supply at the request of Nawaz Sharif. Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had really good personal ties with Arabs as well, which was beneficial for the country. Till 2014, Islamabad and Jeddah were on the same page regarding Afghanistan, Palestine and Kashmir that both of them even issued a joint statement about this under the reign of King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud and then prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

But ever since Muhammad bin Sultan rose to power, Saudi Arabia became economy-oriented, which drastically changed its foreign policy.

Pakistan has always been very useful to Saudi Arabia for its defence. Pakistani forces have been protecting Saudi Arabia since the 60s. KSA even chose Raheel Sharif as the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition, a 39-nation alliance of Muslim countries headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

But now India has much more to offer to Saudi Arabia.

Under the rule of Muhammad bin Salman, Saudi Arabia is trying to grow its economy because it does not want to rely on the revenue of Makkah and Medina solely and wants to have other sources. It is now approaching wealthy countries in Europe and Asia, and India is one of them.

When crowned prince Muhammad Bin Salman (MBS) visited Pakistan in February 2019, he was warmly welcomed in Pakistan. Pakistan locked deals worth $20 billion and it seemed like Pakistan is still in the main squad of Saudi Arabia. However, he later visited India and agreed on deals worth $27 billion. According to certain sources, this visit of MBS also raised Saudi investments in India to a whopping $100 billion.

In Feb 2019 (after the Pulwama attack), then Federal Minister of India Arun Jaitley said that India would take “all possible diplomatic steps” to cut Pakistan off from the international community. After an embarrassing fake surgical strike followed by a failed military move that resulted in Abhinandan being caught in a humiliating way, India realised that military adventures will only result in worldwide embarrassment so it changed its approach and started taking our allies on its side by making huge investments.

For a while, India invested in Afghanistan but ever since the Taliban took over, it all went down. India started bilateral ties with another neighbour, Iran, to make Pakistan insecure. It vowed to build Chahbahar port with Iran. But Iran used to invite Pakistani officials to the ceremonies regarding the port as well. India involved Afghanistan in the Chahbahar project as well but this project was beyond the financial capacity of these countries so it was sidelined a while back.

Later on, India realised the potential of its elite businessmen and its workforce. It offered its investments to attract Gulf in the times when the Gulf was altering its foreign policy regarding Kashmir and Palestine, which proved to be in favour of India. Countries like UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman begin to see the potential of Indian investors. Indian foreign ministers begin to visit these countries frequently and brought handsome packages for them as well.

Meanwhile, Pakistan was focused more on the opposition than its frail economy.

Today Pakistan is slowly losing its nuclear power status. If Prime Minister Imran Khan wants to restore Pakistan back to its glory then he has to engage Pakistani businessmen and investors and take them on his foreign tours with him. He needs to market the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Gulf and other countries to gain their support and step up our diplomatic game.