Foreign secretary: UK helping Saudi-led Yemen campaign

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has categorically stated that Pakistan will not send ground troops anywhere overseas, without the UN mandate, but it is ready to contribute intelligence sharing, technical training and provision of arms [if required] being a member of the Saudi-led 34-nation Islamic military coalition.

The adviser said Pakistan wishes for peaceful settlement of the Syrian conflict and supports all efforts for resumption of dialogue.

Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia-dominated Iran are in the midst of a diplomatic crisis as a result of the executions, according to AFP.

“An emergency meeting of OIC foreign ministers has been summoned in Jeddah where Pakistan would present important proposals to reduce Iran-Saudi tensions”, he said.

Saudi Arabia rang in the new year with a mass execution of 47 suspected terrorists on January 2nd, and they want you to know it. The facets of cooperation and different activities of the coalition will be decided after consultative meetings which will be hosted by Saudi Arabia in the near future.

Though the government says the move is in response to retaliatory attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran, Al-Tayeb Zein al-Abidine, professor of political science at Khartoum University, said the move had been made for “pragmatic reasons” at a time when the country’s economy is in tatters. The kingdom has assets that it hasn’t utilized yet, and non-oil revenue may reach $100 billion over the next five years, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman said in an interview with The Economist last week.

“Pakistan has historically pursued the policy of promoting brotherhood among member states of the OIC”.

He had asked the government to brief the House on its policy on the issue, as Pakistan was also a part of the Saudi-led 34 member alliance of Muslim countries to combat terrorism. He said the committee appreciated the efforts and recommended that Pakistan should play its natural role as a mediator between the two countries keeping in view our bilateral relations with both the countries.

The Premier stressed that Saudi Arabia is not interested in interfering in the domestic affairs of other countries, and has always called for non-interference in the affairs of others, thanks to the wisdom of its leadership, to preserve the status and progress of the Arab Nation. That’s six basis points more than contracts linked to debt from Portugal, whose rating is seven levels below Saudi Arabia’s Aa3 investment grade at Moody’s Investors Service.

Iran, Saudi Arabia’s archrival for influence in the Arab world, was absent from the states named as participants, as proxy conflicts between the two regional powers rage from Syria to Yemen.