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| India-Pakistan |
| Withdrawal of hunting ground annoys Saudis |
| 2008-10-25 |
| ISLAMABAD - The government’s ill-conceived decision to withdraw a hunting ground from Saudi Interior Minister Prince Naif has not only hurt the pride of Kingdom’s ruling family but also put Pak-Saudi exemplary bilateral relations in jeopardy. The decision added insult to the injury when the land in Rajanpur was withdrawn from Prince Naif, who falls third in the line of ruling hierarchy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and leased out to a dignitary in Dubai. According to well-placed sources, the Saudi rulers felt it bad as they were having only two hunting grounds in Pakistan out of which one thirty-year-old lease (renewable every year) was withdrawn in a derogatory manner. Consequently, the Saudis are left with only one hunting ground as against the UAE rulers who have about a dozen of them. The sources observed that the land withdrawal some three weeks ago, put the entire bilateral relationships between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on an undeclared moratorium. Now, the sources believe, the ‘almost halted’ bilateral cooperation between the two countries could be rectified only after the government of Pakistan appeases the Saudi rulers. The first option, they mentioned, could be the return of lease of the same land to the Saudi Prince. Asked about other options to resolve the issue, the sources said, “If one is willing to undo a wrong one could draw out alternatives but the basic question is to accord serious consideration to the gravity of the issue.” On the other hand, they said, the government of Pakistan so far had been taking the matter lightly, since Saudis’ request to seek return of the land placed at the apex level before the authorities in Pakistan did not yield any results as yet. Starting from micro impact of rendering jobless the 60 to 70 people who were looking after that land on behalf of the Saudi Prince, the ground withdrawal issue could be tantamount to badly impacting even the fragile economy of Pakistan, especially in the current precarious circumstances of the country’s economy. Moreover Pakistan can hardly afford to annoy Saudis particularly at at this critical juncture when it direly needs friends like China and Saudi Arabia. According to the sources, unless the government of Pakistan addresses this issue on priority basis, the bilateral relations between the two countries would not improve. They also mentioned that the Saudis did mind that President Asif Ali Zardari could not so far make it to visit the Kingdom despite publicly expressing his desire to do so, especially in the scenario emerging after the withdrawal of the land. Asked about the fate of the Saudi Oil facility for Pakistan, the sources said, everything going on at the bilateral level is feared to be stuck up at ‘as it is, where it is’ level in case the government continues to give a cold shoulder to Saudi request to lease back the hunting ground in Rajanpur to Prince Naif. “You are talking about Saudi Oil facility, the government of Pakistan could get budgetary or even balance of payment support from Saudi Arabia by returning the same hunting ground back to them,” the sources maintained. The sources further told The Nation that the other day’s announcement by the Saudi government to impose restriction of language even on the unskilled labour force imported from Pakistan was also linked with the hunting ground withdrawal. The sources feared that the government of Saudi Arabia could take more stringent measures regarding the Pakistani expatriates. “Unfortunately, it were the working class that suffered first while in future Pakistani business community could also face music in terms of conditions imposed on Saudi visa process,” the sources observed. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #2 Terrorists may be good game to hunt, but are they clean? What good is prey if you can't eat it after slaying? |
| Posted by: Richard of Oregon 2008-10-25 11:24 |
| #1 a lot of pretty land for hunting in the Swat valley. They could even let Prince Naif hunt the most dangerous game in the world..... |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-10-25 11:19 |