Pakistan-Saudi Arabia ties of brotherhood and friendship promoting peace, stability and Islamic solidarity

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are bound together by a common faith in Islam which provides both countries with common goals of seeking progress and prosperity for their people while promoting peace and stability in the region and the world.
This relationship between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia goes far back in history when the Muslims of the sub-continent began their struggle for freedom from colonial rule and Hindu majority domination. While the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia moved along the path of consolidation and complete independence encompassing almost four-fifth of the Arabian peninsula under the sagacious leadership of its founder King Abdulaziz Ibn Abdul Rahman Ibn Saud, the Muslim nation in the sub-continent moved towards the goal of independence from British colonial rule and Hindu majority domination under the brilliant leadership of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah.
The Saudi Arabian Kingdom and Pakistan have thus common background, common goals and common endeavours. Over the past fifty-seven years the relations between the two brother countries have become a role model for other countries in the region and the world. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy individually a unique position in the present day world.
Pakistan is the first Islamic country to acquire the nuclear deterrent in 1998 to counter India while it has the two-nation theory as its ideological base which declared that Muslims in the sub-continent were a nation separate and different from the Hindu Majority, in keeping with the Two-Nation theory projected by Allama Iqbal in his revolutionary poetry and given practical shape in the form of Pakistan under the brilliant leadership of the Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah in August, 1947.
In spite of the traumatic events of 1971, Pakistan is today the second largest Islamic country after Indonesia, whose foundation is the two-nation theory and adherence is to the Islamic tenets. Similarly, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia enjoys the unique position of being the spiritual capital of the Islamic countries having the two most important Islamic sites ie Makkah Al Mukarramah housing the Masjid Al Haram and Kaabatullah and the Holy city of Madina Munawwarah where the Mosque of the Holy Prophet of Islam is located. Besides, Saudi Arabia has the largest single-country known deposits of oil while it is the largest petroleum producer and exporter in the world.
Both countries seek the moderate and tolerant enlightened image of Islam, specially by the western countries and the latest addition to their working together has been the participation and collaboration at the optimum level in the fight against International terrorism. The leaders of both countries have exchanged frequent visits for promoting closer understanding and co-operation in all fields.
This includes the visit in October, 2003 of Crown Prince H.R.H. Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia as also the visit later to the Saudi Arabian Kingdom by President Pervez Musharraf.
The visits of outgoing Prime Ministers Zafarullah Jamali and Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain have also promoted these friendly ties and the latest has been the visit of Prime Minister Mr. Shaukat Aziz earlier in September, 2004 to the Saudi Arabian Kingdom in the course of which he had very fruitful meetings with Khadim Al Haramain King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz, H.R.H. Crown Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz and Defence Minister Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz.
The talks were very positive, held in an atmosphere of complete understanding and friendship and in the words of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz the talks would lead to a "wider Pakistan-Saudi interaction in the service of Islamic causes, in fighting extremism and promotion of trade and investment". Premier Shaukat Aziz maintained that he found in his talks with the Saudi Arabian leadership an eagerness and resolve to tap economic potential.
"We identified ways to achieve economic and commercial results and to enhance these fields to make them commensurate with the excellent political relations", he declared. In the talks the situation in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Kashmir were also covered when reviewing international and regional issues. Premier Shaukat Aziz was shown special honour when he was received on arrival at Jeddah airport from Pakistan by the Governor of Makkah H.R.H. Prince Majid Ibn Abdul Aziz.
The visit has once again underlined the fact that Pakistan-Saudi Arabian ties are above politics and keep getting strengthened day by day.
The pledge of both to fight international terrorism jointly was also reiterated in a forthright statement by Saudi Ambassador in Pakistan H.E. Ali Bin Awadh Aseeri on September10, 2004 in Islamabad when he declared that the security agencies and Interior ministries of both countries were working in close co-operation to counter international terrorism.
Ambassador Aseeri underlined this determination and co-operation by both sides in the following words: The two leaderships showed absolute determination to continue co-operation to eliminate the curse of terrorism from the two countries. They reiterated their resolve to do everything possible to ensure that the germs of terrorism are uprooted without any loss". He also added that 'let us hope and pray that the last three years (after 9/11) have proved that Islam has nothing to do with terrorism, that it is a peaceful religion of love and Justice'. The Saudi Ambassador in Pakistan infact echoed the message given to the Islamic summit in Mayalsia in October 2003 by President of Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia H.R.H Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz and the outgoing Prime Minister of Malaysia H.E. Mahathir Mohammad. Since that Islamic Summit in Malaysia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have been co-operating at an accelerated pace in enhancing the working of the OIC and its ability to address the challenges faced by the world of Islam in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the USA.
Pakistan-Saudi ties in the 20th Century A.D. found expression as early as 1943 when Muslim Bengal in British-India suffered a famine because food from the sub-continent was shipped to war ravaged Britain and Europe. Quiad-e-Azam Mohammed Ali made an appeal for donations for famine relief in Bengal and the first response from abroad to that call was from King Abdul Aziz, the ruler of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
He sent a sum of £ 10,000 sterling to none but the Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, as the president of the Muslim League in the sub-continent not through diplomatic channels of the colonial British government. This showed the regard as also faith of the Saudi Arabian leadership in the person of the Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah as the sole leader of the Muslims of the sub-continent. And when Pakistan was established on August 14, 1947 the Saudi Arabian brothers and sisters prayed with Muslims from the land comprising Pakistan for its safety and glory in Haramain Sharifain.
Since that day todate Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have continued to strengthen brotherly ties and friendship on the common bond of common faith and shared goals. It is a relationship that has come to transcend politics and highlights the eternal embrace of brotherhood and accommodation that distinguishes the Muslim Ummah. Infact, Pakistan-Saudi ties stand out as a role model for other countries to emulate. The several visits by Pakistani leaders in succession to Saudi Arabia over the years and visits by Saudi leaders to Pakistan have assisted in further cementing this relationship which has come to enjoy a unique position. While the people to people contact between the Saudi Arabian Muslim nation and Muslims from the sub-continent dates back far in history, it was lent a new dimension with the emergence of Pakistan. Since then the Pakistani leaders who have visited Saudi Arabia and held very cordial and fruitful ties include Governor General Ghulam Mohammed, president Iskander Mirza, President Ayub Khan, President Yahya Khan, President and later Prime Minister Z.A. Bhutto, President Ziaul Huq, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, President Farooq Leghari, President Rafiq Tarar and President Pervez Musharraf. Among the Saudi leaders who have visited Pakistan during these years todate are King Saud Ibn Abdul Aziz, King Faisal Ibn Abdul Aziz, King Khalid Ibn Abdul Aziz and King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz who came to Pakistan in 1980 as crown Prince and whose visit as King and Khadim Al-Haramain to Pakistan is keenly looked forward to. Crown Prince H.R.H. Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz has visited Pakistan several times, the last visit in October, 2003 and these important visits have been supplemented equally and importantly by visits of Second Deputy Prime Minister Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz and Interior Minister Prince Naif Ibn Abdul Aziz. From Pakistan side the Prime Ministers who have visited Saudi Arabia include Bogra Mohammed Ali, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Mohammed Khan Junejo, Benazir Bhutto, Mohammed Nawaz Sharif and President Pervez Musharraf as the Chief Executive of Pakistan. The caretaker Prime Ministers of Pakistan who have visited Saudi Arabia and added to the growing dimension of relations with the Saudi Arabian Kingdom have been Mr. Moin Qureshi, Mr. Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi and Malik Meraj Khalid. Every visit to Pakistan or Saudi Arabia by these leaders has added to the close understanding between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the base for which was laid in 1943 by His Majesty King Abdul Aziz, the Founder of Saudi Arabia, to none else but Quiad-e-Azam Mohammed Ali, President of the Muslim League a sum of Pounds sterling ten thousand as donation for relief of Muslims in Muslim Bengal suffering from famine. This gesture was matched in equal measure in 1947 before the birth of Pakistan by King Faisal Ibn Abdul Aziz who was leading the Saudi delegation to the United Nations in New York and where the Pakistan movement delegation headed by Mr. M.A.H. Ispahani and including Begum Jahanara Shahnawaz went to inform UN delegations better on the Muslim nation's goal of Pakistan. The Indian delegation at the UN led by Krishna Menon had sought to bar entry to the Pakistan Movement delegation at UN sessions. But Prince Faisal invited the Pakistan delegation to a grand reception he had hosted for the UN delegation at the Waldorf Astoria and personally introduced the Pakistan delegation to all the other UN delegations and UN officials. The Indian delegation walked out from the reception, but the next day many delegations of members countries of the UN received the Pakistan delegation at the UN headquarters. This cemented the bonds of understanding and brotherhood between the two Islamic nations.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have maintained shared and consistent stands on the condemnation of apartheid, emergence of South Africa and North African countries as free nations, who included Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia co-operated in the field of gaining Islamic solidarity and the first initiative in this direction was in the 50s when Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt jointly sponsored and established by agreement the Rabita Alame Al-Islami which is now a working vibrant organisation.
The two nations defended Palestinian Arab rights and the goal for Islamic solidarity was specially supported under the initiative of King Faisal Ibn Abdul Aziz who sought the establishment of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC).
Saudi Arabia reflected its commitment to justice and the Ummah when it condemned the Indian aggression against Pakistan on 6th September, 1965, the day India launched its aggression and to manifest Saudi support for Pakistan. The new Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Pakistan then H.E. Mohmmed Abdullah Al-Motlaq Al-Fahed presented his credentials at 10 a.m. in Islamabad to President Ayub Khan on September 6, 1965 and conveyed a message of solidarity and standing together with Pakistan to General Ayub Khan from the Saudi Monarch H.M. King Faisal Ibn Abdul Aziz.
The Saudi King came on a state visit in April, 1966 to Pakistan and restated Saudi support for Pakistan in the following words: "We consider Pakistan a citadel of Islam.
The Defence of Pakistan is like the Defence of Saudi Arabia to us." Those were historic words indeed and have been the stated policy of the Saudi Arabian Leaders including Khadim Al-Haramain King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz who reiterated this stand on December 10, 1980 at Lahore airport when he was leaving Pakistan after his first visit during which he, as Crown Prince, invited General Ziaul Huq to the Third Islamic Summit held in 1981 at Makkah-Taif. His Royal Highness Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz has reiterated the same stand in defence of Pakistan in his very recent October, 2003 visit to Pakistan.
When the arson attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque served as the whiplash for holding the Islamic Summit in Morocco in 1969 both Saudi Arabia and Pakistan worked for its success and it resulted in the establishment of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) which held its Ministerial conference in 1970 in Karachi and set the pace for the gradual enlargement and expanded working of the OIC, one of whose Secretary General has also been Pakistan's leading legal expert Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada.
While Saudi Arabia defended Pakistan territorial integrity in the 1970-71crisis which resulted in the breakaway of the Eastern wing, Saudi Arabia also supported the re-emergence of Bangladesh's Islamic ethos and its admission to the OIC at the OIC summit held in Lahore in 1974. It was again on Pakistan soil that the rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran took place when Crown Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia and then Iranian President Hashmi Rafsanjani met on the sidelines at the special Islamic Summit meeting held in Islamabad on March 23, 1997, to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Pakistan.
Similarly Pakistan stood by Saudi Arabia in the 80s when faced with Jewish Israel's threat and sent Pakistani troops to the Kingdom to buttress defences against any form of aggression that Saudi Arabia and the Islamic shrines may face.
It was in the came backdrop that Saudi Arabia had mediated in the stand-off between the opposition parties and the ruling PPP led by Prime Minister Z.A. Bhutto in the April-May-June agitation of 1977 which was threatening to become a regular civil war. At Bhutto's request, King Khalid Ibn Abdul Aziz deputed Ambassador Riyadh Al-Khatib to act as a facilitator for talks between the Government and the opposition which resulted in the agreement of June, 1977 though it could not be implemented.
Pakistan received form Saudi Arabian support in the 80s when USSR invaded Afghanistan and installed a puppet Government these leading to Jihad by Afghan to liberate their land from Soviet occupation, an effort supported in equal measure by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
After the success of the Afghan Jihad both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia wought the establishment of a viable government in Afghanistan leading to the agreement between the main factions signed in Makkah in 1997 to work together. But this was not to be so and the Taleban took over in Afghanistan.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia recognised this Government and did their best to ensure that Taleban follow the right course. However, the Taleban defied international community by destroying the Buddhist statues in Bamiyan in 1999 leading to world outcry. The Taleban went under the influence of Usama Bin Ladin and the al Qaeda.
This led to the traumatic events of 9/11 in 2001 and the world has changed since then, due to the wrong stand of the Taleban. The USA along with allies went into Kabul and a new regime is in place in Kabul. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia co-operate in the international fight against terrorism, which is a new aspect of active co-operation between the two countries.
The diplomatic ties between the two brother Islamic nations are well served by very experienced persons working as Ambassadors in the two countries. At Islamabad H.E. Ali Bin Awadh Aseeri has been the Ambassador since 1999. He has witnessed the traumatic changes in Afghanistan from close quarters.
He has done special courses in UK in anti-terrorism and has also promoted closer ties in the security field between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. He has also maintained the closest relationship with President Pervez Musharraf and the Prime Ministers during the past five years including Mr. Shaukat Aziz, the Prime Minister now. He has also promoted close economic and trading ties between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, addressing the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industries sometime ago he called for expanded efforts to promote Pakistani exports to the Kingdom. In his efforts he is equally assisted by Consul General Dr Hasan A. Attar in Karachi who is the holder of a Ph. D. and well conversant with Pakistan. It is in equal measure that the Pakistan Ambassador Admiral Mirza in Riyadh strives for closer ties in all fields between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, as also the Consul General in Jeddah.
Saudi Arabia also showed its concern for stability in Pakistan when it offered to host Mian Nawaz Sharif, former Premier, and his family following the court verdict against him in 2000, and he lives in Jeddah now.
On the economic side the Pakistan-Saudi trade turnover exceeds a billion dollars while Saudi Arabia also provided oil at special concessional terms to Pakistan. It had given such assistance in oil supplies during the Gulf war also to Pakistan.
The interest of Saudi investors in Pakistan is increasing and more and more of Saudi investors are now coming to Pakistan. With over a million Pakistanis now residing in Saudi Arabia, as expatriates, the contribution of Pakistani skills in the development projects in the Kingdom is considerable and appreciated. Each year several hundred thousand Pakistanis go for Umrah and the Hujj to the Kingdom and return with increased goodwill in their hearts for the Saudi nation and its leader ship.
The defence co-operation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia including the provision of training facilities for Saudi personnel in Pakistani military training institutions including the Staff College at Quetta and the Naval and Air Colleges is also proceeding well. The Navies of the two brother nations have held joint exercises while Pakistan is keen to develop co-operation in the field of information technology and engineering.
The airlines of the two countries also provide the important air link between the two countries while shipping services are also expanding as the demand for shipping space on the Pakistan-Saudi Arabian routes increases.
Before I close, I must mention here that the biggest contribution of Saudi Arabia to the skyline in Islamabad, the Pakistan Capital is the grand Faisal Mosque, which keeps reminding everybody of the close ties between the two Islamic nations. Built with a donation from late King Faisal Ibn Abdul Aziz, the mosque represents the common faith of the two nations and the commitment to work for the Ummah and in keeping with the message of Islam, a message of peace and tolerance for the whole mankind, a theme being pursued more vigorously by both nations in keeping with the decisions reached at the OIC summit in Malaysia and which will be projected with success at the forthcoming UN General Assembly meeting now underway.
Table-I

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                                                                 (Rs in million)

For the year ended Dec. 31     2003       2002        2001       2000       1999

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Approvals                   6,917.4    2,218.0     2,815.0    1,390.0    1,363.0

Disbursement of funds       4,653.2    2,190.4     2,190.1    1,477.5    1,108.5

Cumulative

Cumulative approvals       21,815.2   15,252.5    13,033.0   10,718.5    9,328.5

Cumulative disbursements   16,994.2   12,695.8    10,505.3    8,815.2    7,337.7

Recoveries:

Total Amount                2,471.9    1,597.0     1,292.6    1,214.8      992.6

Current Dues Collection        94.5       93.8        93.5       93.3       93.1

Ratio (%)

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                                                                (Rs in million)

For the year ended Dec. 31,      2003      2002     2001       2000        1999

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Income                        1,740.2   1,097.5    890.7    1,107.4       964.5

Net Profit                    1,163.3     811.1    177.2      155.7       326.8

Dividend                        300.0     200.0    140.0      120.0       160.0

Ratios:

Return on Average Equity (%)     28.5      25.4      6.0        5.7        12.5

Return on Average Assets (%)      9.9       8.3      1.9        1.7         3.3

Dividend Payouts (%)             15.0      10.0      7.0        6.0         8.0

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