Pakistan's relations with the Middle East

Abstract

The origins of Pakistan's relations with the Middle East lie in the history of the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent before 1947 and their contacts with fellow Muslims in the Ottoman Empire, both Arabs and Turks, who had developed quite different traditions. Such interchange as took place involved only slightly those who eventually took leading roles in the government of Pakistan, and little thought was given to the kind of foreign policy Pakistan might follow once it came into existence. Immediately after Partition internal problems engaged the attention of the Government, and hardly more attention was devoted to foreign policy than previously. In the early years, therefore, Pakistan did not have a clearly thought out foreign policy with regard to the Middle East, although relations with the countries of that region soon developed. During the first five years of Pakistan's existence the influence of those who might be termed Pan-Islamists was particularly strong, carried high by the tide of religious fervour surrounding Partition. Three main foreign policy problems concerned Pakistan from the beginning: the Kashmir dispute with India, the quarrel with Afghanistan over Pushtunistan, and the Palestine question. There were some hopes in Pakistan that the formation of a Muslim bloc in international affairs, which would take a neutral position between the Western and Soviet blocs, would assist Pakistan to gain its objectives with respect to these problems more effectively than had the British Commonwealth and the United Nations. Suggestions regarding the formation of a Muslim bloc did not appeal to the countries of the Middle East and were abandoned after 1952, although the ideal of closer collaboration with other Muslim countries was not forgotten in Pakistan. Pakistan's drift towards alignment with America was a gradual movement which gained momentum after 1952. Membership of the Baghdad Pact, which Pakistan joined in 1955, was obviously connected with acceptance of American military aid, but Pakistan had been interested (though not active) in earlier attempts to establish a Middle East defence organisation. Although membership of the Baghdad Pact created difficulties for Pakistan's relations with some of the Arab countries, it meant that for the first time Pakistan was allied to three other Muslim countries - Turkey, Iran and Iraq. The concept of closer collaboration among the countries of the northern tier (Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan) was first manifested in the Saadabad Pact of 1937. Pakistan had come to be considered one of the northern tier countries, and the ideal of closer collaboration within this region developed in Pakistan, along with wider ideas of Muslim solidarity, almost from this time. Some suggestions of confederation appeared from time to time but hostility between Afghanistan and Pakistan precluded any agreement along these lines, and in any case while the idea of Muslim solidarity appealed to most Pakistanis, there was considerable opposition to any proposal which would limit Pakistan's national sovereignty. The Baghdad Pact, renamed Central Treaty Organization in 1959 after Iraq's departure, provided for the first time an institutional framework within which the northern tier countries could operate. It accustomed them to consult regularly with each other on defence and foreign policy matters, although they have not always been in agreement. The formation of Regional Co-operation for Development in 1964 provided an alternative framework for this consultation outside CENTO, and at the same time helped promote economic development on a regional basis. The response of the countries of the Middle East to Pakistan's quarrel with Afghanistan over Pushtunistan and with India over Kashmir places this aspect of Pakistan's foreign relations in the context of its overall foreign policy, as does Pakistan's involvement in the Palestine question which is essentially an Arab problem. Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan are closely connected to the relations of each with the USA and the USSR, and the influence of such Middle Eastern countries as appear interested is negligible. On the question of Kashmir, with the exception of Egypt which maintained a position of neutrality, Pakistan received the verbal and/or diplomatic support of the other countries of the Middle East. This has been only marginally affected by Pakistan's relations with the USA and the USSR, but in turn the attitude of the Middle Eastern countries has not had any appreciable effect on the course or outcome of the Kashmir dispute. Pakistan has involved itself in the Arab-Israel dispute over Palestine, giving diplomatic support to the Arab countries, but Pakistan's intervention on the Palestine question has had no effect on its outcome. Religious affinity with the countries of the Middle East has caused Pakistan to pay more attention to the affairs of this region, of which it sometimes considers itself a part, than of any other outside the subcontinent. Differences existing among the Middle Eastern countries contribute to the difficulties experienced by Pakistan in the conduct of its policy in this region. This policy has from time to time been modified in order to take into account Pakistan's wider interests and its relations with the big powers.