Saudi Arabia stops loan, ends oil supply to Pakistan over threats to split OIC, says report

London: With Saudi Arabia ending loan and oil supply to Pakistan, the decade-long friendship between the two countries has finally ended, reported the Middle East Monitor. Pakistan was also made to pay back USD one billion to Saudi Arabia, which was part of a USD 6.2 billion package announced by Saudi Arabia in November 2018, which included a total of USD 3 billion in loans and an oil credit facility amounting to USD 3.2 billion. The deals were then signed when Crown Prince Muhammed Bin Salman made a visit to Pakistan in February last year, the Middle East Monitor reported. This development came after Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi gave a blunt warning to Saudi Arabia-led Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for not taking a stance against India over the Kashmir issue. Qureshi was quoted as saying by the ARY channel, “If you cannot convene it, then I’ll be compelled to ask Prime Minister Imran Khan to call a meeting of the Islamic countries that are ready to stand with us on the issue of Kashmir and support the oppressed Kashmiris.” “I am once again respectfully telling OIC that a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers is our expectation,” he further stated. As Pakistan pulled out of the Kuala Lumpur summit after Saudi Arabia’s “request”, it now expects Riyadh to “show leadership on this issue,” he added. Islamabad has been pushing for the foreign ministers’ meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) since India abrogated Article 370, which gave special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. After Pakistan failed to gather support from the OIC members on Kashmir on 22 May, Prime Minister Imran Khan said, “The reason is that we have no voice and there is a total division amongst (us). We cannot even come together as a whole on the OIC meeting on Kashmir.” Though Pakistan reportedly made attempts to push its narrative of raising the issue of rising Islamophobia in India in its agenda, Maldives, an ally of India, thwarted the move and said, “Isolated statements by motivated people and disinformation campaigns on social media should not be construed as representative of the feelings of 1.3 billion.” Maldives Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Thilmeeza Hussain, said that alleging Islamophobia in the context of India would be factually incorrect. “It would be detrimental to the religious harmony in the South Asian region. Islam has existed in India for centuries and it is the second-largest religion in India, with 14.2 percent of the country’s population,” she said.