Washington, March 17 (IANS) Pakistan has proven to be an unreliable partner, fostering a growing sense of betrayal within Saudi Arabia’s leadership towards Islamabad amid the escalating crisis in the Middle East.

Despite a defence pact between the two countries, Pakistan has offered neither tangible military assistance nor political support to Saudi Arabia during the recent Iranian attacks on the Kingdom, a report said on Tuesday.

According to a report in the US-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir conveyed to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that Pakistan's military is engaged in a conflict with Afghanistan, constraining its ability to deploy troops to Saudi Arabia.

Citing sources, it said that Saudi Arabia held multiple discussions with both Munir and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, seeking clarity on Islamabad's position regarding the defence agreement.

The MEMRI report further said, “At a time when Saudi Arabia faces direct security pressure amid a broader regional conflict, Pakistan has maintained strategic ambiguity and refrained from providing tangible military support. For Saudi Arabia, the growing convergence between Pakistan and Iran highlights the need to reassess the practical value of Islamabad's security commitments and to consider how much reliance can realistically be placed on Pakistan as a long-term strategic partner.”

Writing for Turkey-based think tank ‘Kafkassam’, journalist Natik Malikzada said that the defence pact between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan was described as a 'NATO-like arrangement' in the Middle East, and included “aggression against one would be treated as aggression against both.” However, following the February 28 US-Israeli attack on Iran, and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes on Gulf states, Pakistan has offered no military commitment of the kind such a pact appeared to imply.

“Instead, Islamabad is now hiding behind an Afghanistan front that it has itself helped intensify for destruction from its commitment to Saudi Arabia. Pakistan has escalated strikes across the border, and the fighting has already displaced more than 115,000 people in Afghanistan. Pakistan designed this conflict, and now it is giving them the perfect excuse to say they are tied down with their own conflict next door, and they are unavailable abroad for Saudi,” he added.

Highlighting Saudi Arabia’s disappointment towards Pakistan for not abiding by the defence agreement, the report said, “From Riyadh’s point of view, Pakistan sold this pact as something historic, serious, and strategic. But now that the moment of testing has arrived, Pakistan is nowhere to be seen. Saudi is learning, in real time, that what Pakistan marketed as brotherhood and mutual defence was in fact a hollow and one-sided arrangement.”

--IANS

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