Pakistan’s army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa met senior officials in Saudi Arabia in an effort to tone down the escalating tensions between the two countries over the Kashmir issue.
According to statements by government officials and the Pakistani military, Bajwa may try to ease the prevailing situations, between Pakistan and Saudi over Kashmir, which could lead to adverse effects on Pakistan’s central bank foreign reserves as Saudi threatened Pakistan with its financial lifeline.
Although, the Pakistani army spokesperson said that “General’s visit is primarily military affairs oriented.”
Adding to this, Saudi’s Vice Minister of Defense, Khalid Bin Salman in a tweet said, “We discussed bilateral relations, military cooperations, and our common vision for preserving regional security.”
Pakistan and Saudi are traditionally close. In 2018, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia lent Pakistan a $3 billion loan and $3.2 billion oil credit facility to help Pakistan out of its balance of payments crisis.
Pakistan was already made to pay back $1 billion two weeks ago by Saudia Arabia, which led Pakistan to borrow instead from its close ally China.
Now Saudi Arabia is again demanding Pakistan to pay another $1 billion of the loan after Pakistan’s continuous nagging over Saudi to hold a high-level meeting against India’s alleged human rights violation in Kashmir.
“I think our case is to convince them [Saudi] that there’s no foreign policy shift,” a senior Pakistani military official said.
Analysts state Saudi’s actions as not wanting to risk business opportunities in India for supporting Pakistan over Kashmir. Another reason for Saudi having reservations over its stance on Kashmir is it’s foe Iran’s possible participation in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the analysts said.
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