After the failed mission of Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa to placate and the subsequent snubbing by the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, motor mouth Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has rushed for a visit to China for support.
As per a Times of India report, Qureshi has now gone to China to meet his counterpart Wang Yi to seek the support which Pakistan did not get from Saudi Arabia.
“I am leaving on a very important visit to China. My delegation will represent the stance of the political and military leadership of the country. I hope that my meeting with foreign minister Wang Yi will prove to be beneficial for both countries”, Qureshi was quoted as saying.
However, it seems Qureshi was met with only a low-level Chinese foreign office dignitary at the airport along with members of Pakistan mission in Beijing.
This is what happened when @SMQureshiPTI landed in China.
Chinese Government send a driver to welcome him.
"In simple language, We call it Aukaat." pic.twitter.com/BL0gxquHVx
— Al iskandar (@TheSkandar) August 21, 2020
According to reports published in the Hindustantimes, Qureshi is travelling with a three-point plan in hand that included scaling up military cooperation between the two countries.
The People’s Liberation Army and Pakistan army had, in August last year, signed a pact in Rawalpindi army headquarters for defence cooperation and capacity building of Pakistan Army. Some are calling this agreement as a joint military commission.
Also, Islamabad wants Beijing to raise the Kashmir issue again at the forthcoming UN General Assembly session next month.
It seems in the coming days Pakistan’s relationship with Saudi Arabia is going to unravel as it sides with Turkey to help it prop as the leader in the Islamic world.
Being the only nuclear power Islamic nation, Pakistan is hoping with Turkey as its leader and Iran, Malaysia and Qatar who it seems are already on board, they could provide an alternative to the current Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Once this platform is established, Pakistan feels it can then challenge India on Kashmir with support from new allies.
It all started when Qureshi had threatened that if the OIC headed by Saudi Arabia did not convene a foreign ministers’ meeting on Kashmir, Prime Minister Imran Khan, Pakistan will find a new way with allies among the Islamic nations.
This direct threat made by Pakistan did not go well with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which is also going through its own political and social change from within. For Saudi Arabia, any challenge to its leadership of the OIC is a direct attack as the de facto leader of the Sunni Muslim community across the world.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has dreams of reviving the Ottoman Caliphate and wants to be the leader of the Sunni Muslim world. However, the road to the leadership of the Muslim Ummah will not be easy.