Saudi keeps neutrality over Kashmir issue
Much to Pakistan's dismay and India's delight, Saudi Arabia maintained neutrality over the Kashmir issue, even when Islamabad is making all efforts to mend its relations with the Gulf country and is wooing it to change its stance.
Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, his government has had good relations with Saudi Arabia. After the Indian Prime Minister's visit to Riyadh in October 2019, Saudi Arabia has maintained neutrality over Kashmir and backed India on cross-border terrorism, said Abhinav Pandya, a strategic analyst and the CEO of Usanas Foundation, an India based think tank, told The Epoch Times.
The Saudis have had ambiguous stands on Kashmir on various global diplomatic forums--many times they supported Pakistan's stance before they recently took to neutrality in India's favour.
"Three events of 1979 had a direct impact on Kashmir [seizure of the Grand
Mosque in Mecca, the Islamic Revolution of Iran, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan]," said Pandya.
"After 1979, the Saudis sponsored Wahhabism across the globe." Muslim majority Kashmir became a "natural choice for Wahhabi proselytization" because of the deep penetration of Pakistan, which had historically close relations with the Saudis, added Pandya.
The rift between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia started when Riyadh didn't heed Pakistan's demand to call a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC, which Saudi Arabia leads) to discuss the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir's original political status by the Modi govt.
"Pakistan Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi asked Saudis to show "leadership" and threatened that if Saudi doesn't call a meeting of the foreign ministers of the OIC over Kashmir, Pakistan will be forced to go to Iran, Malaysia, and Turkey for support," said Madiha Afzal, in an analysis for the Brookings Institute.
Meanwhile, the Saudis also denied permission to the Pakistan embassy in Riyadh and the consulate in Jeddah to organise Kashmir black day programs on October 27 last year.
The ruler of Jammu and Kashmir acceded to India on October 27, 1947, and Pakistan observes that date as the Kashmir Black Day every year.
In recent years, India's relationships with the Arab countries have significantly improved, particularly with Saudi Arabia because India is an emerging economy and a key global market.