Pakistan Gets Snubbed By Gulf Countries

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Pakistan has not received the kind of support it expected from the Gulf Arab countries. They have remained mostly unmoved as India revoked the Article 370 of its Constitution and gave Union Territory status to Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. This muted response is because of India’s rising stature as a stable and mature country. Further, India has close strategic ties with almost all the Gulf countries. India conducts trade worth more than US $100 billion in annual trade, which that makes it one of the Arabian Peninsula’s most valuable economic partners.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s most powerful Islamic country has only urged restraint over the Indian move. Other important countries like Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman have not issued any statements on the matter. The United Arab Emirates has termed the decision “an internal matter of India”. This is extremely significant. This signals that Abu Dhabi has downgraded the issue. Though, UAE has in the recent past provided a “soft loan” of US $ 3 billion and had deferred payments for oil that is exported to Pakistan, the Emirates indifference on the Kashmir issue has sent a clear message to Islamabad that it values its strategic ties with India a lot more.

UAE is one of India’s largest trading partners. The trade volume is around US $ 50 billion (exports from India US$ 28 billion and imports to India US$ 22 billion) making India the second largest trading partner of UAE, while UAE is India’s third largest trading partner (after China and US).

Indian investments in the UAE is in the range of US $ 55 billion. Indians are the largest foreign investors in Dubai’s real estate market. Dubai’s leading global port operator is planning to develop a logistics hub in Kashmir, once the formalities are completed. UAE’s Ambassador to India, Ahmed al-Banna, is reported to have said, the changes in Kashmir “would improve social justice and security and further stability and peace.”

Saudi Arabia’s response to the Kashmir issue too has been muted. The Kingdom has close ties with both India and Pakistan. Due to changing regional geo-politics, Riyadh is in an ideological rivalry with Turkey and Iran for supremacy in the Islamic world. The Saudi statement on Kashmir said the kingdom “is following up on the current situation” and has called for a “peaceful settlement”.

The Islamic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is home to 2.7 million Indians and is India’s second biggest supplier of oil after Iraq. Saudi oil exports to India was US $ 27.5 billion in bilateral trade last year.

This week, India announced one of the biggest ever foreign investments in the country — a US $ 15 billion purchase by Saudi Arabia’s state-owned Aramco in India’s Reliance oil and chemicals business. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has vowed US $ 100 billion of Saudi investments in India by 2021.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has reached out to leaders in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to discuss India’s action in Kashmir. However, he has not found any backing from them. Bahrain, in fact arrested many South Asian residents after they tried to hold a protest on the Kashmir issue. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and the country’s foreign ministry have issued tempered statements, calling for dialogue and peace between India and Pakistan.

These events have raised serious concerns in Pakistan, if it were to move the United Nations Security Council, who would back Islamabad? Gulf countries are wary of supporting Pakistan on the Kashmir issue. They feel that Pakistan has used Kashmir to extract money from the oil rich countries. But, the money has gone into wrong hands. The Gulf countries today are facing domestic problems such as unemployment and escalating costs of living. The Arab Spring protests have led to serious domestic realignments in the strategic region.

It would be better if Pakistan addresses its domestic matters like rising unemployment and prices and its economy which is in doldrums. Gaining sympathy for the Kashmir issue and receiving billions in doles from other countries simply cannot get Pakistan out from the abyss.

Script: Kaushik Roy, AIR: News Analyst

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