Bilateral relations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have been historically very close, with two sides extensively co-operating with each other in myriad fields including defence. But in the wake of the Yemen crisis early this year these came under considerable stress as Pakistan's parliament refused to join the Saudi-led coalition to quell the Iran-backed Houthi rebellion. Pakistan did commit to defending territorial integrity of Saudi Arabia but saw landing boots in a third country a violation of international law. Turkey was one other country which too declined to join the Arab coalition. But the Arab coalition couldn't put with a negative response from Pakistan. As one of its partners threatened tough backlash the others in the coalition wondered what went wrong that same very Pakistan which in 1969 had flown Saudi jets to repulse incursion from South Yemen, had now decided to remain neutral. However; it hasn't taken long for the propriety of Pakistan's stand to take hold and prevail. The Pakistan-Saudi relationship is fast regaining its original warmth and pristine cordiality. Last week, the two countries conducted a joint counter-terrorism exercise, codenamed Shahab-1, at Pakistan's newly set-up Counter Terrorism Centre near Jhelum. Recently, Army Chief General Raheel Sharif paid a high-profile visit to Saudi Arabia and had not merely a courtesy call but a constructive engagement with King Salman bin Abdul Aziz. In the meeting, the king reviewed with General Sharif 'bilateral ties and issues of common interest'. While General Sharif reiterated Pakistan's commitment to safety and protection of Harmain Sharifain and territorial integrity of Saudi Arabia, King Salman 'assured co-operation, and that any threat to Pakistan would be unacceptable'.
Of all the concerns, both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia share the most critical is threat of terrorism that is invariably foreign-funded and is carried out through proxies. Inside the country Saudi Arabia is victim of violence by the self-proclaimed Islamic State, while checkposts on the border with Yemen come under attacks by Houthis. And Pakistan is victim of religious extremism mainly bankrolled by India's intelligence agency RAW, as some of it comes in through its western border. According to ISPR, in the meetings with Saudi authorities General Sharif "appreciated growing counter-terrorism co-operation, intelligence sharing, limiting space of terrorists in all domains including choking flow of funding". Given the fact that of quite a chunk of money that is received by the welfare organisations in Pakistan as donations from the Middle East countries, some of it lands in the hands of anti-state elements. Even the best of efforts to regularise this inflow by stemming the tainted donations have not yet succeeded. Since these very 'beneficiaries' act as proxies 'choking flow of funding' is a challenge which came under discussion in army chief's meetings in Riyadh with the Saudi authorities. Given that Syrian crisis lingers on with all its negative fallout on the security narrative of the Middle East and India's hegemonic designs come alive the Pak-Saudi bilateral relationship is expected to grow in scope and delivery. General Raheel Sharif has created facts on ground that neutralising terrorism is doable. Thanks to the Operation Zarb-e-Azb the menace of terrorism has by and large ceased to exist in the tribal areas and country's financial capital Karachi of teeming millions. Indeed his achievement - that comes as a big surprise to many including major international players - has won many hearts and inspired many a mind to believe that fight against international terrorism is winnable.
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