With Saudis walking out, Pakistan loses Muslim Ummah card

Last week saw the ending of one of the biggest lies propagated by Pakistan—the much-touted Muslim Ummah (brotherhood). With many countries dumping the Islamist fantasy of global Muslim unity, Pakistan lost a trump card it often used in the game of international politics.

Saudi Arabia stopped loans a few days ago when Pakistan warned to split the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) over Kashmir. With Saudi Arabia ending loan and oil supply to Pakistan, the decades-long bonhomie between the two countries has finally ended.

Pakistan was also forced to repay $1 billion to Saudi Arabia, which was part of a $6.2-billion package announced by Saudi Arabia in November 2018, which included a total of $3 billion in loans and an oil credit facility amounting to $3.2 billion.

In fact, the Pakistanis have been trying to find a common ground with other Muslim nations. However, the Arabic countries have shown them the reality of a changing global order.

The United Arab Emirates too has finally acknowledged this change in the world order, and decided to normalize relations with Israel, the supposed adversary of the Arab world.

The world is changing fast, making Pakistan’s foreign policy jaded, if not completely irrelevant. The unraveling of the global Muslim Ummah mirage is a harsh reminder of this fact.

After the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir last year, only two nations have responded positive to Islamabad’s call for a united stand against India—Turkey and Malaysia.

Significantly, both nations are also non-Arabic. In fact, Malaysia is reportedly having second thoughts regarding its stand on the issue as it faces blowback, with New Delhi imposing tough restrictions on import of palm oil from the nation to India.

It is time the Pakistanis acknowledged that they need to resolve issues bilaterally and not threaten India by raising the bogeyman of Muslim Ummah. The Islamic nation has to learn that countries across the world want peace and stability to prosper and grow.

The Narendra Modi government already called Pakistan’s bluff of the so-called ‘Islamic nuclear bomb,’ by ordering the strikes at Balakot, the first time the Indian Air Force violated Pakistani air space in almost half a century.

Time is running out for Pakistan. Unless it transforms the basic elements of its ideology and amends its foreign policy accordingly, the nation’s future prospects will remain bleak..