- Failure to issue joint statement reflects government secretiveness
Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal ibn Farhan Al-Saud was in Islamabad on a one-day visit. The visit was being given more importance than usual because it came after Pakistan did not send any representation to the Summit in Kuala Lumpur, following Prime Minister’s visit to Saudi Arabia. He bailed on the Kuala Lumpur moot after that visit, after first having agreed to attend. There was a proposal that Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi should lead a delegation to the Summit, but even that was given up. Mr Khan came under much criticism for having caved in to economic pressures, because Saudi Arabia and the UAE had provided it aid packages last year, which paved the way for the IMF package to which the government agreed.
The official outcome was not known, because no official statement, customary after such visits, was issued. This would normally mean that there had been no agreement of any kind, but sources had disclosed that Prince Farhan had said that Saudi Arabia was planning to call an OIC Foreign Ministers’ meeting on Kashmir. One the one hand this affords the Saudis deniability. India does not want Kashmir discussed in any international forum, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi made its point to visit Gulf capitals after his government acted against Kashmiri autonomy, where he was lionised heavily. On the other hand, Turkey and Malaysia had both taken strong stances against India on Kashmir, with Malaysia even facing a palm-oil import ban from India.
The whole episode showed Pakistan in a poor light. Pakistan showed that its commitment to the Kashmir cause came second to its economic interests. It also left Mr Khan with a stain on his conduct of diplomacy that may mean that Pakistan will be trusted the least by those powers which have given it the most support. Though foreign policy has not so far been prominent at hustings, when elections roll around, Mr Khan might find the voters asking awkward questions about it. If the economy remains in the sort of shape it is in, Mr Khan might find those questions impossible to brush off.
