Saudi Arab is desperately attempting to aggrandize its influence vis-a-vis Iran in the region. All moves are backfiring. Its name along with the US, its patron-in-chief, is dust in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Bahrain. It has no following in Iran, not much in Turkey and Pakistan, whereas, in other sister Arab nations Iran rules the streets.
Pakistan, a brave nation with weak leaders, who was supposed to follow Saudi misadventure in Yemen without much hassle, has not buckled in. Its dilly dallying has rather exposed the bankruptcy of Saudi stance on Yemen.
It's hurtful to Saudis. Especially when it comes from a leadership whose past is tainted and whose moral pedestal is not so high.
Mr. Nawaz Sharief is personally beholden to the Saudi King for his life and for what he is now. He got him released from Parveez Musharraf, when the later had toppled his government on Oct 12, 1999 and put him behind bar.
About twenty years before this Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, a sitting prime minister, and chairman of a political party was not so lucky. He had lost his credibility as utility person for the Saudis and the US. He was sent to gallows on April 4, 1979 on flimsy grounds through a judicial process, which later even one of the Supreme Court panel judges acknowledged as judicial murder.
The Saudi King was able to coax Gen. Musharraf and take Mr. Sharief out who remained his guest of honor for almost eight years. Mr. Sharief was all set to send Pak army to Saudi Arab to fight their war.
Another positive for the Saudis was that Nawaz Sharief's younger brother ruled the Punjab, the largest province of Pakistan which is also considered as the bastion of power in Pakistan. Nothing would stop them from acceding to the Saudi 'request'.
Then Mr. Aitzaz Ahsan, PPP senator from the Punjab, threw a spanner in the works.
Addressing the joint session of Pakistan parliament last weak Mr. Aitzaz Ahsan represented the emotions of the nation and summarized the whole issue very briefly which one can say was an analogy of Trinity. The kingdom cannot be taken as the Goliath or David of Islam.
He was right as the nation saw the difference between the House of Saud, Saudi Arab and the two holy places of Islam. They cannot be considered as one entity which the House of Saud desperately wants people to believe in.
Saudi Arab has a lot of friends in the lands of Islam but other than some small Arab principalities in its neighborhood none is willing to side with it against Iran. The kingdom can live with Israel, its erstwhile enemy, but he cannot live with Iran, a country whose people follow a different brand of Islam.
The overriding religious and regional overtones of Saudi diplomacy have made the kingdom more desperate since it has failed to garner support from Islamic nations to the extent it considers vital to promote its agenda in the region. Islamic nations generally don't consider Iran's growing influence in the region inimical to their interests.
Attack on Yemen was nothing more than an act of desperation. Before any agreement could be reached between Iran and five + one powers in Lausanne on 2nd April Saudi Arab started aerial bombing of Yemen on flimsy grounds.
Three weeks relentless bombing of Yemen by Saudi Arab has achieved nothing; however, it has killed and displaced thousands of people creating humanitarian disaster in Yemen.
We've been condemning the US for its imperialistic policies in the lands of Islam for its acute disregard to countries' sovereignty and territorial integrity. Saudi Arab has for the last thirty years been doing the same which we have pocketed as political nuances of a brotherly country which we consider as the bastion of Islam.
Saudi imperialism is emerging to the dismay of the world. In their own right they have rather given a new twist to it; the aggressor is wailing as a victim. Exploitation of religion by the House of Saud is in bad taste. Their certitude-'whatever they do is Islamic and whoever they are against is devilish'- is un-Islamic, fraudulent and crooked.
