Pakistan bound to provide defence support to Saudi Arabia, says Sartaj

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is bound to provide defence support to Saudi Arabia in case of a threat to its integrity under two bilateral agreements between the two countries; one was inked in 1982 while the other was sealed in 2005.

This was revealed by Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz in a high-profile closed door briefing given to the members of the Senate here the other day. Highly-placed diplomatic sources told The News on Thursday that Sartaj Aziz responded to the queries of senators and assured them that Pakistan wouldn’t commit its troops in the present conflict in the Gulf region since Saudi Arabia hasn’t asked for the same. He told the members of the Upper House of Parliament that Pakistan would attend the ministerial conference of the military alliance of 37 Muslim countries convened by Saudi Arabia next week in Jeddah.

Pakistan would determine its role in the alliance in the wake of deliberations of the conference. Referring to his discussions with the Saudi crown prince and deputy prime minister of Saudi Arabia, Sartaj Aziz said that to a query the crown prince said Iran, Iraq and Syria have been kept out of the alliance due to trust deficit. The adviser said the crown prince didn’t make it clear what was the specific threat that forced the formation of the alliance.

Sartaj Aziz hinted that a high-level visit was due shortly from Iran to have discussions with the leaders here in Pakistan. He didn’t give any detail about such a visit. He maintained that Pakistan was keen to see a reduction of tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran. 

Pakistan is prepared to work for this purpose provided both the countries are in agreement on the issue. The sources said that Sartaj Aziz didn’t offer any comment on the question of Chairman Foreign Affairs Standing Committee of Senate Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed who drew the attention of the adviser towards the State of Nation Address by the US President Obama where he expressed the fear of long-term instability in Pakistan. The adviser declined to offer comments on it.