Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are linked together by the unbreakable bond of faith in Islam and endeavour for peace in the region and the world. The founding Fathers of both nations have also maintained the closest understanding on all international issues while fully supporting the role of the United Nations and the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) in establishing stability and peace for the progress of mankind.
While Saudi Arabia had the good fortune of having a brilliant leader in the person of His Majesty King Abdul Aziz and ushered in the present era of peace and progress in the Kingdom, the Muslim Nation in the Asian sub-continent won the goal of Pakistan on August 14, 1947 when the British conceded power to two sovereign states of Pakistan and India. However, in achieving Pakistan the struggle was challenging and demanding.
The Hindu majority in the sub-continent opposed Pakistan and the British cleverly divided the provinces of Punjab and Bengal in a manner that millions of Muslims migrated to Pakistan and lived in refugee camps till fully rehabilitated. The princely states of India were given the option to join Pakistan or India, again on the basis of Muslim majority princely state to join Pakistan and vice versa.
However, Maharaja Hari Singh of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, having a majority Muslim population acceded to India instead of Pakistan, giving rise to the Muslim freedom movement in Kashmir where Pakistani and Indian armed forces face each other along a Line of Control after a cease-fire brokered by the United Nations.
India has continued to defy international law and commitments to hold on to occupied part of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan and India have fought three wars over the Kashmir with no solution in sight. One must note here that the second half of the 20th century saw the birth of the largest number of independent states comprising of nations emerging from the shackles of colonial rule to national independence including Pakistan and India.
PARLIAMENTARY FAILURE OF 1954-55 The situation in Pakistan took a devastating turn in 1954-55 when a paralysed Governor General Ghulam Muhammed abrogated the Constitution and subjected the country to emergency rule which was converted into one-man rule by then Army Chief Ayub Khan who promulgated Martial Law and introduced the presidential form of government in Pakistan, against the wishes of the people.
A massive movement against Ayub Khan resulted in his stepping down in 1959 and the entry of then Army Chief Yahya Khan as the supremo in the political arena in Pakistan. He ruled till 1971 and had to step down in the most shameful defeat suffered by Pakistan in the end 1970 war with India. However, the 1970 war saw the break-away of East Pakistan and its emergence as Bangladesh.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto became the first civilian Martial Law administrator and ruler of Pakistan in December 1970 and launched his campaign for rebuilding Pakistan with the support of the people. He ruled till 1979 with an Iron Fist but gave up power in the face of a massive public agitation. After a brief civilian spell of Government, the then Army Chief General Zia-ul-Huq assumed power in the name of law and order in the country and promising elections as soon as normalcy returned in the country. He did not keep his promise of elections within three months and dragged on his rule till 1988 when he died in a plane crash near Bhawalpur a crash in which too many top notch military leaders died.
Pakistan has witnessed an erratic civilian rule since then with the promise of fair and free elections to the provincial and the Federal legislature by those in power. POLITICAL PARTIES GETTING ACTIVE The political parties in Pakistan are getting active now for the coming elections to the national and provincial assemblies. The major and minor political parties as also groups are now busy in working out their election strategies and creating a network of party workers for the general elections.
POLITICAL WORKERS ADHERENCE TO PARTIES In respect of adherence to political parties the record of most of the political leaders in Pakistan is not recommendatory except for the Muttahida Quami Movement, which has successfully faced attempts at breaking it up into groups and factions. The Pakistan Muslim League is divided into five to six factions at the federal and provincial levels, the Pakistan Peoples Party is also divided into two to three factions while the other parties also suffer the same fate excepts the Jamaat-i-Islami, which has maintained its identity but has not been able to attract many supporters in the provinces of Punjab, Sindh and Azad Kashmir. The political maturity of the electorate in Pakistan is considerable though literacy percentage in the rural areas is still below desirable levels. In the political parties, the individual leaders often defy their supporters to obtain personal gains, which is regrettable.
Throughout the trial and tribulations in Pakistan, the Saudi Arabian leadership stood by Pakistan and advised against political chaos and anarchy. It was infact this desire on the part of the Saudi leadership specially their adherence to the Islamic solidarity call, that the First Islamic summit in Saudi Arabia followed by the historic second Islamic summit in Pakistan laid the foundations of the Organisation of Islamic Countries which has matured into an identity of its own and also promoted the formation of several multilateral Islamic organisation including the holding of Islamic Information Ministers Conference to work out a consensus on goals for the Islamic media to pursue.
Pakistan-Saudi ties have also matured in the defence field where both countries cooperate to promote their own defensive abilities and also assist the other Islamic countries with training facilities for their cadets in all branches of defence. In the field of civil aviation also the ties among the Islamic countries are being promoted at a brisk pace. Civil aviation has developed in the helm phenomenal manner in the Islamic countries, especially in the Middle East and South Eastern Asia. Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia and Egypt are also engaged in manufacturing aircraft for various purposes and Pakistan has already supplied many aircraft to the neighbouring countries.
An important project is the Asian highway developed by the Islamic countries which seeks to connect the Islamic countries of Asia by land to the continent of Europe, thus facilitating the fast transit of trade goods among the Islamic countries. Pakistan is playing an important role in the development of these road links.
PAK EXPATRIATES - HELP WITH HOME REMITTANCES Pakistanis working in Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states send annually a substantial amount of foreign remittances to help boost the country economy. Efforts are also underway to utilise these remittances for promotion of labour-intensive industries with high profit yields.
A joint commission of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia also meets regularly to review co-operation between the two countries and explore new avenues of co-operation. In the educational field a large number of Saudi students are pursuing studies in Pakistani institutes of higher learning. The Ulema of the two countries also keep meeting and this was particularly evident during the vis of the Imam-e-Kaaba to Pakistan. Some thirty million Pakistanis have performed Umrah and Hujj since the establishment of Pakistan with Pakistanis coming in good number at the annual Hujj pilgrimage.