Pakistan to send troops: Sethi

LAHORE: The Parliament session has made it clear what should be the course of action for Pakistan, but, at the same time, Saudi Arabia’s expectations are on the rise. On the other hand, the UAE’s deputy foreign minister too issued a strong statement which has not been replied because of not being official, senior analyst Najam Sethi said on Saturday.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif tried to reach a right decision through Parliament, but the UAE issued the statement via a junior minister, so that they could backtrack when and if required, Sethi said. An unofficial message was sent by Pakistan’s Parliament that had been replied by a junior minister of UAE unofficially, which should be considered an exchange of complaints, he added.
Expressing his views in Geo News programme ‘Aapas ki Baat’, he said it seemed that the prime minister accompanied by the army chief would visit Saudi Arabia soon during which the final decision was to be made.
According to Sethi, the civil and military leadership cannot refuse the Saudi request and the government will NOW take some steps without taking the Parliament on board. They will try sending the troops but deny when reported, saying Pakistani soldiers would only defend the kingdom. The Pakistani troops will be stationed on the frontline along the Saudi border. But Pakistan will hope that stage doesn’t come.
The decisions on issues like number of troops, their positioning and the command will be made without consulting the Parliament. There are some political parties in the country, which will try to take advantage of the related information, when leaked, in a way that can even result in the removal of Nawaz government. Zardari enjoys very good relations with the UAE government and he will not issue any statement annoying the UAE or Saudi Arabia.
Sethi said Saudis’ anger was justified given that the US-Iran issue would soon be resolved and they had been stopped on the Syrian front, making them feel insecure. They wanted to come closer to the Muslim countries, knowing that the West would not support them, he added.
Saudi Arabia feared that Al-Qaeda might gain importance, if the crisis wasn’t tackled at the current stage, which could even trigger resistance within the kingdom, he added.
With reference to the statement of UAE junior minister about “paying a big price”, Sethi said many Pakistanis had assets in the Gulf state with the majority of labourers in Middle East also from Pakistan. One could imagine what would be the situation, if all the Gulf States decided to send the Pakistanis back home, he warned.
He said two to three million Pakistanis were currently sending $14 billion annually and any negative action by the Gulf States would create huge economic problems in the country. At least 30 million people would start opposing the Nawaz government, if the Gulf States decided to expel the Pakistanis, he reminded.
On the Turkish prime minister phone call to Nawaz during which they decided to support Saudi Arabia in case of any threat and said that the Houthis had no right to topple an elected government, he said both the countries were drifting towards a stance desired by Riyadh. They had started to take position, meaning that they were no more neutral, he added.
According to Sethi, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have many defence pacts, while Pakistani military officers are training the Saudis as well. The way Saudi Arabia is spending billion of dollars on arms import, the Pakistani government too would want to get some procurement orders from the Saudis. The army would like to see the government solving the matter amicably.
About former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry’s letter to the National speaker, Sethi said he should have written to the ECP, adding that Imran Khan had personally attacked the former chief justice who could only seek help from the courts. But the courts followed the popular mood, he said, adding that same was the case with him (Sethi) as he repeatedly requested to summon Imran but the courts opted to remain silent.
About NA-246 by-polls, he said people had gained courage after the Nine Zero raid, while the MQM’s influence was reducing in Karachi. “It is a golden opportunity for Imran” to grab as the seat, he remarked.
But Sethi said although it was very difficult, Imran winning the by-election would jolt Karachi; however, the MQM retaining the seat with a huge margin would mean that no one could accuse the party of rigging in the previous polls.