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In the words of one Pakistani observer,The Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 and the debacle of East Pakistan were a
traumatic experience for Pakistan. Saudi Arabia stood by Pakistan during
this difficult period. The Saudi Government and people extended moral and
material aid to Pakistan whose international position had been adversely
affected following the military action in the then East Pakistan. Saudi Arabia
refused to recognize Bangladesh until the Pakistan Government gave the go
ahead signal. It also extended full diplomatic backing to Pakistan in the
extremely difficult negotiations it conducted with India in the aftermath of
the fall of Dacca.
Saudi Arabia’s relation with Pakistan after the secession of the Eastern
Wing continued on the old footing. The two countries cooperated closely at
the third Islamic Summit which was held in Lahore in February 1974. King
Faisal headed the Saudi delegation to that historic conferences in person and
also led the Friday congregational prayers at the Badshahi Mosque. (Ahmad
1982 , 53)This trend continued during the later years of the Cold War when
India’s politico-economic influence, especially vis-à-vis the Middle East,
was limited.
The Kargil conflict of 1999 witnessed a different trend and the response
of the Middle East was more nuanced and less restrained towards India.
C. Raja Mohan writes
Pakistan had expected support not only from China but also the Islamic
world that it has nurtured as an ideological constituency. But Pakistan found
the going tough even in the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC)
which in an unusual move watered down the Pakistani resolutions against
India during the Kargil crisis. In a very significant development, Saudi
Arabia played a very quiet but important role in encouraging Pakistan to see
reason and accept the inevitable step of retracing its steps back to the LoC. A
top member of the Saudi Royal family accompanied Mr. Nawaz Sharif on his
way back home from Washington where he had signed a document of sur-
render of sorts. (Raja Mohan 2000 )Besides, Saudi Arabia joined President Bill Clinton and nudged Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif to accept the ceasefire and pull out the Pakistani
army from the Kargil and withdraw to the LoC (Raja Mohan 2000 ).
Though it was supportive of Pakistan over the nuclear tests, Riyadh was
concerned over cross-border tension escalating into a war between two
P. R. KUMARASWAMY AND MD. M. QUAMAR