Gulf Cooperation Council

The cooperation council for the Arab states of the Gulf region is colloquially known as GCC or Gulf cooperation council. GCC is an inter-state organisation of all those Arab states which are on the border with the Persian Gulf except that of Iraq which is not a member of this organisation. It is an economic and political union established in 1981 consisting of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain.

All of these countries are Arab monarchies and share deep values of religion and traditions. This region is considered to be the center for international oil reserves and hence has been an under constant threats of proxy wars, coups, regional and international conflicts.

Pakistan being a Muslim majority country and with deep conservative traditions has been closely aligned with Arabs for decades but this relationship has not started after post-independence era rather before the independence, Muslim league had cordial relations with all Arabs and particularly Saudi kings who supported Sub-continent Muslims in their quest for independence from the British colonialism. Muslim League and particularly its charismatic leader, Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause and even Mufti Azam of Palestine wrote a letter to Jinnah expressing his deep love for Jinnah and for Sub-continent Muslims.

After Pakistan came into being on 14^th of August, close ties were established between Pakistan and GCC  (particularly that with Saudi Arabia) because of deep historical and religious values. Saudi king Saud visited Pakistan in 1954 which truly laid the foundation of this historical relation. Ayub Khan had great personal ties with King Zayed which boosted relations further and he even arranged a meeting of Shah of Iran and Sheikh Zayed of UAE which melted the ice between the two after they had tense relations.

During Yemen war when Gulf states and especially Saudi Arabia ( host of two holy shrines of Islam) was under severe threats of an attack from Yemeni side, Pakistan Army and Air Force launched counter-strike against Yemenis and saved Saudi Arabia from a great threat. Pakistan Airforce was also instrumental in taking down attacking Israeli military air crafts during both of the Arab-Israel wars. During Gulf war, most of the Gulf states sided with Kuwait against Saddam’s invasion, thus the threat of an Iraqi attack on Gulf states was imminent. This caused the stationing of Pakistani commandos to protect the holy sites of Islam and whole Saudi Arabia.

This shows the efforts of Pakistani in defending our brotherly Arab countries. Now let’s put some light on the efforts of Arabs for Pakistan. During Pre-independence era as we already discussed Saudi kings were outrageously supportive for the Muslim cause in sub-continent. During 1965 war, all the Gulf states and particularly Saudi Arabia provided economic and moral support, after the 1971 tragedy, Arab didn’t accept Bangladesh as an independent state until Pakistan did it itself.

When Pakistan was in a confusion whether to test Atomic bomb in reply to India or not, Saudi Arab’s support proved key in taking it on. Pakistan tested its atomic bomb in Chagai with special support of Saudi Arab. After that USA imposed sanctions on Pakistan but our Arab friends kept on bailing us out. During Earthquake Saudi Arabia and UAE ( United Arab Emirates) were the two main suppliers of aid to Pakistan. The relationship between Pakistan and Gulf states is not limited to a specific area or field and will keep on broadening its horizon.