Saudi Arabia and Pakistan: a new era of strategic co-operation?

When Saudi Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdelaziz visited Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in February (GSN 964/9), their joint expression of support for the “formation of a transitional governing body” in Syria, and Sharif’s hailing of the two countries’ similar views on regional matters, prompted accusations of a strategic shift in Pakistan’s traditional policy of non-interference in the affairs of Muslim states. Discontent, among the Pakistani opposition and some commentators, was compounded by reports that Saudi Arabia wanted to buy Pakistani anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons for the Syrian opposition, that it was soliciting Pakistani help to train Syrian rebels, that it had asked Pakistan to dispatch two divisions (about 30,000 troops) to repress internal dissent in the kingdom, and that it wanted to recruit retired Pakistani soldiers and police for Bahrain.