The way forward

That Pakistan has landed in a difficult situation over its Yemen policy is obvious and as pressure snowballed on the government to clarify its position, especially after the threatening public outburst of a UAE minister and the air dash to Islamabad of a Saudi minister who was eager to talk to the media and the public even before he had met anyone, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had to come out and reiterate his position. What he said after a top level meeting of the civil and military leadership was nothing different from what the joint sitting of parliament had stated in its resolution. The PM only emphasised some portions and tried to placate the Arabs who, he thinks, may not have fully understood the underlying message of the parliamentary resolution. Two things were, however, significant in the latest explanation of Islamabad’s stand. One, that Pakistan had asked Iran to help defeat the insurgency in Yemen by the Houthis, something which is unlikely to happen, and that Pakistan is not yet prepared to make any firm public commitment of sending its troops, air force and navy, until it is clearly established that there is a threat to the integrity and sovereignty of Saudi Arabia. That may be easier said than proved – and this is the key of the Pak position, a cleverly crafted stand to stay away from the actual conflict but to stay on the right side of the Arab friends on whom we depend heavily in many other fields. The key question now would be whether the Arabs understand and accept our interpretations and if they are ready to backtrack from their public demand for full-scale participation of our military might.
Why such a situation has been created is now irrelevant. It is obvious PM Nawaz Sharif over-committed himself in his royal visit when the Saudi king himself received him at the tarmac. It is obvious why that was done. Defence minister Khawaja Asif, when he told parliament about the specific points of the Saudi wish list, had seemed to imply that the PM had made the commitment. The list must have been made on the understanding that it would be considered. The parliamentary resolution was thus an afterthought to wriggle out of the situation. And now we have the Saudi delegation in Islamabad and the PM publicly explaining the position. Since diplomacy is almost universally an art practised in the quiet and hushed silence of closed rooms, both Pakistan and our Arab friends need to find a way forward so that both get what they want. Better sense will have to prevail, almost surely in the quiet and secured lounges of the PM House or the Foreign Office.