Positive image of the Ummah, message of peace for mankind form the bedrock of Pakistan - Saudi Arabia ties

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have worked in unison over the past six decades to achieve the goal of Islamic solidarity and better recognition of the Muslim Ummah as a force for peace and tranquility in the world while promoting at their national levels the most promising and well-planned development projects in every sector of the economy along with transparency and good governance in the service of their two nations.
Infact Pakistan, Saudi ties have grown into so warm and all-embracing parameter that all other Islamic countries find it worth emulation. In developing these ties at the bilateral level there has been active cooperation and understanding between the leaders of the two countries and a whole hearted participation by the peoples of the two countries which manifests itself specially in the regular performance of 'Umra' and the annual Hajj in the Kingdom by several hundred thousand Pakistanis each year.
While the foundations for this brotherly and mutually advantageous ties was laid by the two great leaders of the Muslim World Quaide Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan and King Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud, the founder of Saudi Arabia, every successive leader of Saudi Arabia and of Pakistan has contributed to the further strengthening of these bilateral brotherly ties deriving their strength from common faith in Islam and the message of Peace for man kind that it is.
In recent days the ties between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have been strengthened by the landmark visit of Khadim Al Haramain King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz to Pakistan in the first week of February, 2006 followed two months later in middle of April, 2006 by the historic visit to Pakistan of Saudi Crown Prince H.B.H. Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, in response to the earlier visit to the Saudi Arabian Kingdom by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to attend the third Extraordinary Summit of the OIC in Makkah Al Mukarramah held on December 7 & 8, 2005 at the invitation of Khadim Al Haramain King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz.
President Perviz Musharraf made his contribution to the finalisation of the Makkah Declaration of the OIC Summit of December 2005 which also spelt out the vision for progress and modernisation of the OIC member countries from the next day years and also gave the final shape to the recommendations, as adopted, for the restructuring and perspective role of the Organisation of Islamic countries, something originally initiated in the 2003 Islamic Summit in October 2003, in Malaysia where the Chairmanship of the OIC Summit went to Malaysia and currently stays with it till the coming Islamic Summit in Senegal hopefully this year.
The cooperation between the two brother countries Pakistan and Saudi Arabia was also maximum in urging a ceasefire in Lebanon while condemning Israeli aggression and calling for greater support to the Arab Palestine State, a stand reiterated in the OIC special summit meeting in Kuala Lumpur last year pressing sanction against Israel.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz led the Pakistan delegation to the Kuala Lumpur emergency session of the OIC Summit called by OIC Summit Chairman Premier Ahmad Badawi of Malaysia. It was at this summit that both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia found common ground to condemn Israel, call for ceasefire, withdrawal of Israeli aggression and settlement of the Middle East issue in a manner acceptable to the Islamic Ummah while declaring that the Arab Palestinian state shall have Al-Quds as its capital.
Another gigantic manifestation of the Islamic solidarity link between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia was the assistance extended to Pakistan by the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under the directives of Khadim Al Haramain King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz in October, 2005 when Pakistan suffered the worst ever earthquake in its northern areas on October 8, 2005. Saudi Arabia organised a sky-train of relief goods aboard C-130 aircraft along with field hospitals to care for the injured while giving aid both directly and through the Government agencies to the quake affected in both cash and kind.
The initial contribution by the Saudi Arabian Kingdom to the earthquake relief effort in Pakistan along with later pledges, both by the Government and through public donations collected in the Kingdom, runs into over a billion dollars with more to come. Infact Saudi Arabia has become the third biggest donor to the redevelopment effort in the quake affected areas and in respect of direct aid distributed to the affected, the leading aid-provider.
To collect funds for the quake affected a special committee under Interior Minister H.R.H.Naif Ibn Abdul Aziz Functioned under the patronage of Khadim Al Haramain King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz. Infact Deputy Interior Minister Prince Ahmed Ibn Abdul Aziz came to Pakistan with part of the relief aid and conveyed personal messages of sympathy on the quake tragedy from Khadim Al Haramain and the Crown Prince to President Pervez Musharraf, the Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Azad Kashmir leaders also.
During the visit to Pakistan in February, 2006 by Khadim Al Haramain King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz and by Crown Prince HRH Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz in April, 2006, several quake affected families were specially introduced to the two leaders and these families conveyed their profound thanks for the Saudi aid. Saudi regard and feeling for Muslims in this part of the world had earlier found its best manifestation in the provision of a sum of pounds sterling ten thousand as aid from the Kingdom for the relief of the Muslims affected by famine in Bengal in 1945 in British India during the second world war.
This amount was sent to Quaide Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah as the Muslim League President showing Saudi faith is the person and leadership of the Quaid. It was again Saudi Arabia that paved the way for a Pakistan project delegation of the Muslim League led by Mirza Abul Hasan Ispahani in 1947 to the United Nations in New York and where leader of the Saudi Delegation then Prince Faisal Ibn Abdul Aziz invited the Pakistani delegation to meet the UN delegations and project the Pakistan resolution and goal for national self-independence in the face of stiff opposition by the Indian delegation at the UN then.
And this support was again manifest in the 1965 September war to repel India aggression when late King Faisal pledge full support and backing to Pakistan placing Saudi foreign reserves at the disposal of Pakistan in the face of threatened freezing of Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves by the United Kingdom and the USA. The earlier visit to Pakistan of his Majesty King Saud Ibn Abdul Aziz in 1954 resulted in the donation, by Saudi Arabia to build the Saudabad colony in present day Malir for refugee rehabilitation.
But the visit to Pakistan in 1966 by late his Majesty King Faisal resulted in the signing of several agreements and memorandums of understanding providing for close cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in all fields of national activity. A grateful Pakistani nation marked that historic occasion with the naming of the city of Lyallpur as Faisalabad, a name that behoves this fourth largest city of Pakistan.
Besides, late King Faisal donated the funds for the construction of the landmark Faisal Mosque in the Capital city of Islamabad, a mosque that symbolises Pakistan-Saudi ties purified by common faith and adherence to Islamic tenets while seeking the projection of a positive, appealing and moderate Islamic image abroad I have been a close. Witness to the process of development of mutually advantageous brother ties between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia over the past nearly six decades.
I have also interviewed the Pakistani and Saudi leadership during these many years and found in their thinking a common approach to solving the problems of the Muslim world through Islamic solidarity. Their common endeavour for a better deal for the Muslim Umnah is obvious at the different UN meetings, including the pursuit of an honorable settlement of the Palestinian issue and the Kashmir issue while joining bands together in the campaign against international terrorism since 9/11.
Both countries have succeeded in supporting and obtaining freedom for many countries of Asia and Africa after the second world war and in obtaining the abolition of apartheid in South Africa and the rule of the majority. These are not ordinary achievements and it will be pertinent to examine here the progress forward of the two brother nations and the securing of common goals of Islamic and human endeavour.
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 Abdul Aziz Ibn Abdul Rahman Iban 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 Quaide Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The Saudi Arabian Kingdom and Pakistan have thus common background, common goals and common endeavours.
Over the past sixty 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 1999 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 Quaide Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah in August, 1947.
Inspite 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. Saudi Arabia enjoys the unique position of being the spiritual capital of the Islamic countries having the two most important Islamic cities 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 in 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 cooperation in all fields.
The author of this article has specialised in writing on Pakistan-Saudi ties of friendship and brotherhood over the past fifty years and has run an office of Pakistani newspapers in King dom Saudi Arabian by Royal permission between 1975 to 1981. He has met personally the leaders of the Saudi Arabian Kingdom and has written on them extensively. He is Managing Editor of the first private sector news agency of Pakistan-United Press of Pakistan-and the monthly English Magazine Pictorial News Review.