The latest reports from Yemen say that more than half a million people have been infected by the cholera epidemic but there has been no major response from the world -- especially from Muslim countries. This epidemic has been raging for the past six months across Yemen and thousands of people are added to the list of the infected daily. A primary cause for the spread of cholera is the civil war that has disrupted the supply of potable water and has destroyed most of the sewerage system in cities and towns.

Yemen is the second largest country in the Arabian Peninsula after the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Covering more than half a million square kilometres, Yemen is located to the south-west of the KSA. Though Yemen has a coastline stretching over 2000km, it hardly has any functional port left. In addition to the KSA, it also shares land borders with only Oman to the east. Yemen’s official capital is Sana’a which has been under the rebel control for the past 30 months since February 2015. The only internationally recognised government has shifted the capital to Aden.

The Houthi rebel tribes started occupying Yemen in September 2014, initiating a revolt that has been dubbed as the September revolution. The rebels have formed a militant organisation called Ansarulllah that mostly consists of Shia Zaidi denomination but also has some Sunni elements within its ranks. These people have been active in the northern parts of Yemen since 1990, waging a war against President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The tensions between the central government and the Houthis have been visible for almost over 25 years, the all-out war began in earnest in 2004.

Now the leader of the Houthis is Abdul Malik Houthi, a brother of the previous commander Badruddin Houthi who was killed by the government forces in 2004. But then a dramatic change took place in 2014 when the Houthis normalised their relations with Ali Abdullah Saleh and with his help started occupying most of the regions in northern Yemen and finally establishing their hold in the capital Sana’a.

The politics of the Houthis is quite like that of Hezbollah, since both are staunchly against America and Israel. On the Iranian pattern, they consider America, Israel, and some Arab regimes primarily responsible for most of the problems the Muslims are facing around the world.

Both Hezbollah and the Houthis target Arab countries that have friendly relations with America or Israel. Since the KSA has been enjoying very friendly relations with the USA since 1930s, both militant groups look at the KSA as a major tout of American interests in this region. The Hezbollah and Houthis also share the same slogans such as ‘death to America’, death to Israel’, and ‘curse on the Jews’. The Houthis have announced that they would not try to occupy the entire Yemen and would simply strengthen their positions in their own areas of influence.

From 2011 to 2014, the Houthis followed a relatively moderate policy but then, after the occupation of north Yemen and Sana’a, they changed their tack abruptly. Soon afterwards, the KSA declared them a terrorist outfit and started targeting them. Now, the KSA wants to ‘liberate’ the Houthi-occupied regions of Yemen and restore the internationally recognised government there. It is worth recalling that from 1967 to 1990, South Yemen was a separate country ruled by a socialist government. This regime controlled most the eastern and southern half of the country.

In 1990, it was united with North Yemen but just after four years, South Yemen declared its separation from the North. After a brief civil war, North Yemen succeeded in reoccupying the South. Now the latest situation is that around 15 million people are deprived of water and sanitation facilities and almost all cities and towns have heaps of uncollected garbage. The cholera epidemic resulting from this filth is especially dangerous because its symptoms are not immediately detected. Late diagnosis prevents immediate medical attention and the patient dies within hours.

Moreover, the medical staff such as doctors and nurses have not received their salaries for months and that has made medical services even scarcer. Many patients who could be saved, die because of lack of medical facilities. The Yemen civil war has already claimed over 10,000 lives just in the past two years. More than 50,000 have been wounded. And now this cholera epidemic has already claimed over 2000 lives with the number of infected touching hundreds of thousands. Within a short span of just two months, cholera has reached most areas of Yemen and everyday thousands are getting infected by it.

Another major threat is the menace of famine, as the International Red Cross has been facing difficulties in providing essential food items to the people as the Saudi forces keep targeting the supplies. The cranes on Yemeni ports have been a target of attacks, making it almost impossible to unload the supplies in a country where almost 90 per cent of the essential food items are imported. Intermittent attacks by the Saudi forces have proved disastrous for the KSA itself. For example, just three months back a friendly fire hit a Saudi helicopter killing over a dozen Saudi soldiers.

The Saudi Black Hawk chopper was just one of the many casualties the KSA has suffered. In addition, dozens of soldiers from the United Arab Emirates have also died in clashes as the UAE is a major partner in the Saudi-led alliance against the Houthis. In all this confusion, the role of Pakistan government has been ambiguous to say the least. Iran has shown its strong reservation at General Raheel Sharif’s assumption of a leading role in the military alliance from which Iran has been excluded. Iranian ambassador to Pakistan, Mehdi Honerdost, has been expressing his country’s displeasure at Pakistan’s willingness to be part of the alliance.

The KSA has not released the details of alliance’s aims and objectives apart from just mentioning that it is an alliance to fight against extremism and terrorism. Apparently, it may mean that any country that is not part of the Saudi-led alliance can be targeted as a promoter of extremism and terrorism. Obviously, Iran is a major Muslim country in this region that is not a member of this alliance. Arab countries have been accusing Iran of fomenting Shia uprisings in countries such as Bahrain, the KSA, and Yemen. Any attempt by the Shia population to assert their democratic rights in Arab countries is termed terrorism by the Gulf kingdoms.

Pakistan’s role has become even murkier after General Nasir Janjua’s pronouncement that General Raheel Sharif after assuming the command of the alliance would invite Iran to join the group. On the other hand, former defence minister of Pakistan, Khawja Asif, had confirmed that the government of Pakistan had issued a no-objection certificate to General Sharif. The Islamic military alliance, led by the KSA, does not appear to be a transparent body. Questions have been raised about Pakistan’s involvement in it and concerning General Raheel Sharif’s trademark tightlipped approach to it.

It is not clear if this military alliance will wage a war against terrorism by intervening in other countries, and if so how the permission will be sought, if any, from the target country. Most Arab countries themselves are marred by internal conflicts and mutual disagreements and there is no outline or strategy for the uncanny alliance. Even the new and young crown prince who appears to be in charge in the KSA has no clear stance on the alliance. Pakistan needs to be treading carefully on this path. Any head-over-heals plunge into a Saudi war will be a foolish thing to do.

The former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, had followed a relatively disinterested policy in the dispute of Arab countries involving Qatar. One of the minsters even attributed Nawaz Sharif’s removal to his unwillingness to send Pakistani troops to Yemen and following a non-aligned policy in the Qatar dispute. Whatever the reason, Pakistan should avoid any involvement in the Saudi actions against Qatar and Yemen.