PKLEAKS 18.0: What would it be like Becoming Saudi and Emirates subjects with China already ruling on us ?

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Once described as the closest relationship of any kind in the world, the unwritten alliance of Saudi–Pakistan and UAE-Pakistan has stood out the test of time. It is a security pact coupled with religious ties and decades of financial aid without which we could not have survived our innumerable financial defaults and corrupt governance practices. Our intellectual circles aptly describe Saudi as a well raised cash cow that helps to earn a lot of money over a long period of time. Saudi financial assistance to us in periods of economic difficulty has been a key plank of the bilateral relationship over many decades.

For the records none us can deny this fact that we are the second largest Muslim country, which hosts the world’s largest Shia minority population and hence it’s too important for Gulf states to ignore and also the UAE is home to the second largest population of overseas Pakistanis in the world, according to government data, and is a key source of foreign currency for our nation in the form of remittances back home.

But recently there has been much hype in the international media about the supposed end of Saudi–Pakistan and UAE-Pakistan ties. Yet such hype belies the reality of this relationship, which is primarily handled directly by the Pakistani army and the Saudi King and the Crown Prince. There have been some question marks about this alliance as a result of various regional changes, such as the Qatari, Malaysian and Turkish embrace of Pakistan and the anti-Saudi stance, which such realignments may imply. Related to the same issue is our resistance to the Abraham Accords inked by the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan etc. to establish relations with Israel. This obviously had its repercussions. However, through our channels, we bring to you the behind the scenes of the whole picture shown to you.

On November 18, 2020, the UAE abruptly halted the issuance of new visas to citizens of 13 mainly Muslim-majority countries including us over “security concerns”. While we claimed that the visa suspension was due to spike in COVID 19, but what was pretty obvious was the fact that there was no visa suspension for India, which was grappling with humongous incidents of the corona virus.

The financial impact of Pakistan’s belligerence with Saudi Arabia and the UAE was evident as both started forcing return of concessional loans and assistance accorded to Pakistan after Mr Khan assumed power in 2018.

Saudi Arabia asked for early repayment of a $3 billion loan from us to which the UAE also followed the suit. Saudi Arabia had provided us a $6.2 billion financial support package in 2018 shortly after Imran Khan became the PM in the form of a $3 billion loan and a $3.2 billion deferred oil financing facility. Saudi Arabia initially denied from the arrangement for deferred payments for oil purchases and then urged Pakistan in 2020 to repay the loan. However, the amount is insignificant; what the Saudis want is a financial investment that also helps the Saudi economy, which is the new 'MBS [Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman] model’.

General Bajwa has always steered the institutional relationship away from personalities and one-man shows. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has done much the same. This has led to the first-ever private-led investment by a Saudi entity in our nation. Seen from this perspective, the $1-billion debt payback demand is a paltry sum, compared to the almost $20-billion private investment.

For the loan repayment to Saudi, as always is the scenario, we again begged China and has so far taken three big loans from them for the repayment of the $3-billion loan from the Saudi. The package included a $1 billion soft loan and two separate financing lines of $1.5 billion and $500 million to pay back the Saudi debt. On December 17, we repaid $1 billion as the second tranche of accelerated repayment schedule to Saudi.

A $3 billion financial package was extended by UAE in December 2018 to us and was seeking return of the $1 billion loan – part of the $3 billion package. They had also declared a $3 billion facility for deferred oil payments for us but later denied. Our PM Imran Khan’s personal overtures to Prime Mohammad Bin Zayed (MBZ), the de facto ruler of Abu Dhabi, seems the most likely reason that avoided Pakistan’s already dwindling foreign reserves coffers from emptying at the last minute and this opened the floodgates of concessions making to the UAE. The minute details of the same will be available to you readers.

The lease of state lands in Cholistan and Rahim Yar Khan on previous rates has been extended to the UAE by the Punjab cabinet on the said pretext of enduring the bilateral ties between the two nations. Bearing no monetary ramifications, the said decision is most likely reflects the bailout by the UAE to us.

The UAE will also be attracted to the Punjab government's proposal for ‘Dubai-like’ modern city Ravi Riverfront Project near Lahore that is spread over more than 100,000 acres. UAE will also seek preferential bids in the SEZs to be established in Punjab. Our Prime Minister is also considering mortgaging Islamabad's biggest park, the F-9 park, named after Madar-i-Millat Fatima Jinnah, which is stretched over 759 acres of land and one of the largest covered green areas in our country, to seek a loan of around Rs 500 billion. What is to be kept an eye upon is that, whether the UAE will get any major chunk of this package.

It is also confirmed by our sources that Abu Dhabi Ports has established a new feeder services company to meet growing trade demands within the Gulf region linking Abu Dhabi to ports serving the UAE, the wider Gulf region and the Indian subcontinent. The service will be operated in partnership with Bengal Tiger Line (BTL) through a vessel sharing agreement as a pendulum service. The expansion of logistics and trade enablement services are envisaged as UAE is seeking secure supply chains for critical goods into Abu Dhabi port during the pandemic. For which, there will be a requirement of establishing cargo terminals in various ports including Karachi. Karachi is also our main landing port for trade in which the UAE has a major chunk. Thus,provision of additional storage space in Karachi port will be a natural demand by the UAE.

Pak Arab Refinery LTD. (PARCO), is a Joint Venture between our Government (60%) and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (40%), through its Mubadala Investment Company. It is also learnt that the long process of issuance of NOCs for installing petrol pumping in large provinces like Punjab has been reduced from 90 to 30 days.

The UAE will also demand concessions from our government in the upcoming bidding process of new petroleum exploration licenses as the country is planning to award 10 new oil and gas exploration licenses out of 30 blocks to attract foreign investment.

UAE is also expected to look for a greater share into our increasing demand of oil and gas.

May allah save our puppet regime, and the bankrupt economy that is always on the verge of dissolution, hardly breathing on Saudi glucose and Chinese saline !!!

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