In a policy statement, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that Pakistan considers Saudi Arabia as one of most important strategic allies. The prime minister issued the statement to clarify Pakistan’s position on the Yemen crisis where Shia Houthi tribe has captured the Yemeni capital Sana and is advancing in all directions. The crisis has not only disturbed peace in the region but also business and trade because Yemen is geographically situated on main strategic route of oil supply to all the Asian countries.
On another note, to stop the advancement of the Houthitribe, Saudi Arabia has started airstrikes and is targeting their positions. The Saudi authorities allege that Iran is supplying arms and ammunition to the Houthi tribe and calls the Houthi tribe as rebels.It wants the tribe to take part in election process instead of picking up arms against the government. Ironically, a formula which the Saudi authorities want to apply in Yemen seems to be foreign to them in their own homeland, Hijaz, where a specific tribe has been dominant for nearly a century. There is no voice of the people in the government affairs and all the official work is subservient to royal decrees where even the formation of a social organisation is prohibited by law and may carry death sentence what to speak of elections and democracy in that country.
Sharifs should clearly understand that if Saudi Arabia is a strategic partner of Pakistan, Iran is our immediate neighbour and also a strategic partner. Iran stood by Pakistan through thick and thin and what the Pakistanis suffer at the hands of the Saudi employers is an open secret. We respect the holy land as Muslims, but usurpers have dominated that land which needs to be free from their clutches. The government must tell the Saudi authorities in black and white that Pakistan can play its role in the crisis as a mediator and facilitator and that there is no threat to holy places in Hijaz. If this is a political matter, as the Saudi minister claims, it should be resolved through political dialogue and airstrikes in another country is violation of the UN charter.
In Pakistan, there is no Shia-Sunni strife on official or unofficial levels. The people belonging to the both schools of thought live and work together and are part and parcel of a broader Muslim community. We have to treat both Houthis and non-Houthis at the same level.
