Gen.Raheel meets with the Crown Prince, Muhammad Bin Salman

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are considered to be the closest Muslim allies in the world. The starting of this relationship can be traced back to the era before partition. In 1940, Crown prince of Saudi Arabia Saud bin Abdul Aziz visited Sind and met with the leaders of Muslim League. When Bengal was struck by disastrous famine, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah appealed to the whole world and particularly to the Muslim world for help, Saudis promptly sent humanitarian assistance to famine-hit areas of Bengal.

After the partition, King Saud visited Karachi and laid the foundation stone of a housing scheme and this area is now called as “Saud Abad”. King Faisal was another popular figure among Pakistanis, a city formerly called “Lyall Pur” was named after him. Similarly, a base and a famous mosque were also named after him because of his services for Pakistan.

During 1965 war, Saudi Arab was the most generous in helping Pakistan and even it has been recorded that King Faisal said that you keep on fighting India and don’t worry about resources.  During the same year, a defense cooperation agreement was formally signed by Pakistan and Saudi Arab.

In 1971 when Pakistan was dismembered into two separate states, Saudi Arabia fully supported Pakistan on the issue and didn’t recognize Bangladesh until Pakistan himself did it. In 1974, India carried out its Atomic tests under the code-name of Pokhran, ringing alarms bells in Pakistan. Pakistan requested close friends for financial assistance to give a reply back to Indian Atomic tests. Saudi Arabia along with Libya were the first countries to extend hands of cooperation and assistance to Pakistan, provided Pakistan financial aid worth billions of dollars.

In 1980 Khana Kaaba was attacked by some miscreants in response to the more liberal policies of King Faisal. King Faisal requested Gen. Zia for military action against those holed up inside the Kaaba. General Zia responded and sent Pakistan special forces who swept out Khana Kaaba from those miscreants. This further strengthened Pak-Saudi relations and resulted in a defense agreement under which Saudi was entitled to seek Pakistani troops in case of any danger.  Both were also on the same page in Afghan Jihad era.

In 1990-1991, Gulf war was a hot issue in the region, Saudi sided with allies against Saddam Hussein resulting in a danger of an attack on Saudi soil and especially on Harmain cities. Pakistan sent its troops to Saudi Arabia to defend Saudi land and especially Holy cities of Makkah and Madinah in the case of Saddam’s attack.  When Pakistan openly tested its nuclear weapons under the code-name of Chagai-1 and Chagai-2, western countries imposed heavy sanctions on Pakistan. This nearly made already crippling economy of Pakistan a complete bankrupt but Saudis came to the help of Pakistan, providing 50,000 barrels of oil per day for a year free of cost.

Saudi and Pakistan have supported each other on each and every issue and that’s why their relationship is called “Special relationship”. Saudi is also home to the holy sites of Islam and is the main cause of respect in the hearts of Pakistanis for Saudis. Saudi is a home of millions of working Pakistanis who sent remittances back to their home helping Pakistani economy in many ways.