ISLAMABAD - Pakistan on Monday held a top-level civil-military meeting to discuss the escalating Yemen crisis, vowing to fully support Saudi Arabia in every eventuality but once again stopping short of a decision to send its troops to join the coalition against rebel fighters.
Reports quoted officials as saying that Pakistan would announce a final decision on whether to send troops after its defence delegation’s visit to Saudi Arabia.
Reiterating Pakistan’s commitment to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called upon the United Nations, the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Conference) and the international community to play a constructive role in finding a political solution to the Yemen crisis.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called the high-level meeting of political and military top brass to undertake a comprehensive review of the fast-deteriorating situation in Yemen and draw Islamabad’s future course of action in mitigating the soaring tensions in the Middle East.
The meeting was attended by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Adviser to PM on National Security Sartaj Aziz, Army Chief General Raheel Sharif, Air Chief Sohail Aman and Foreign Affairs secretary among other senior officials.
The meeting concluded that Pakistan remains firmly committed to supporting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Saudi Arabia in accordance with the aspirations of the people of Pakistan. It was emphasised that Pakistan stands committed to playing a meaningful role in arresting the deteriorating situation in the Middle East. To facilitate early resolution of the crisis and to promote peace and unity of the Muslim Ummah, the prime minister would be contacting the leadership of brotherly countries.
It was further decided that the two-member delegation comprising Defence Minister Kh Asif and PM’s Adviser Sartaj Aziz would leave for Saudi Arabia in a day or so to assess the situation and have direct input from the Saudi leadership on the issue. The delegation, earlier reported to also include top military leadership, was to leave for Saudi Arabia a few days back but was deferred as the leadership of Arab countries were engaged in a meeting at Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt.
Agencies add: As a high-level defence delegation is scheduled to leave for Saudi Arabia, a security official told Reuters news agency that there would be no decision on joining the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen before the visit. “There can be no decision (on joining the military campaign) before the delegation’s visit,” one official said.
Pakistan is a regional ally of Saudi Arabia, the main Sunni Muslim power in the Gulf, but has yet to commit itself publicly to military support to Riyadh’s campaign in Yemen. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in a telephone call with Saudi King Salman on Saturday, offered “all potentials of the Pakistan army”, media quoted the Saudi Press Agency as saying.
A Saudi military spokesman said there were already around 750-800 Pakistani servicemen in Saudi Arabia but none were combat troops. He declined to comment about their duties and it was not immediately clear what kind of military support Saudi Arabia was seeking. Pakistan evacuated about 500 of its nationals by plane from Yemen on Sunday during a brief pause in airstrikes by the Saudi-led military coalition against Houthi forces, the Saudi official said.
Pakistanis stranded in Yemen have reported intense bombing in the city of Aden. The stranded Pakistanis said the army had surrounded the airport with tanks and armoured vehicles and was carrying out bombing in an effort to free it from Houthi tribesmen. According to them the airport building and runway had been destroyed.