Saudi Arabia Excludes Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir from the Map of Pakistan

Ten days after the Beirut Blast of August 4, 2020, Pakistan regarded it as an Independence Day gift when the UAE announced the formalisation of ties with Israel on August 14, 2020. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) was the key force in the deal of ‘normalisation’ of ties between Bahrain and Israel. On October 25, 2020, Yossi Cohen, Israel’s Mossad Chief, in an interview with Channel 12 News, indicated that he expected KSA and Israel to open up their embassies soon after the November 2020 US elections.

The KSA-Israel normalisation process had been well on the cards, but the issue which stems from the ‘hubris’ is its fallout, with particular reference to Pakistan. Pakistan criticised Riyadh over the Kashmir issue and incurred the displeasure of the KSA crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (popularly known as MBS). KSA also compelled Islamabad to repay a one billion loan soon after this.

Pakistan had saved its face by repaying the debt with the help of China. KSA added further humiliation to Pakistan when it announced that the sum of one billion USD repaid by Pakistan would be invested in Reliance Jio Fiber in India.

It just did not stop there. On October 24, 2020, Saudi Arabia released a 20 Riyal banknote to commemorate its presidency of organising a G 20 summit on November 21-22, 2020. The world map displayed at the rear of this commemorative banknote has scraped Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Kashmir from the map of Pakistan.

On 05 August 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had removed Article 370 from Jammu & Kashmir, which gave it a special status. China, too, had been irked in the process. China and Pakistan have thrice dragged the Kashmir Issue to the UN Security Council in the past year. While China tried to stake its claim inside Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, Pakistan tried desperately to form a new bloc with Turkey, Iran, Malaysia, China and Russia, outside the traditional dictates of the US.

According to the official KSA stand now, Pakistan has no legitimacy over Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir. This is a blow to Pakistan which had released the country’s new political map on 05 august 2020, leading New Delhi to term it as ‘political absurdity.’ The current priorities of Saudi Arabia are inclined towards India, as the kingdom is slated to invest 15 billion USD in India’s Reliance Industries. According to media sources, it is also likely to invest in a 60 billion USD oil refinery in India. The KSA-India economic ties strengthened with a rejection of any financial aid to Pakistan is a new marker in international relations.

With the current world order in place, KSA, Israel and India are expected to enjoy a ‘springtime’ in the Gulf region. The KSA’s attitude towards Pakistan may also be ‘read’ as targeted against China, as China is to carve its CPEC through Gilgit- Baltistan and it was on the advice of China that Pakistan had recently announced Gilgit- Baltistan to be its fifth province, where elections are scheduled to be held on 15 November. When India decided to put on air GB weather report on 08 May 2020, China was alerted and raised the tensions on the Indian border. The bold Indian move was perceived to be the most potential threat to its coveted project of CPEC.

The depiction of the map of Pakistan devoid of Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan by KSA is a severe blow to the country and has adequately disgraced Pakistan in the international arena, particularly in the Muslim world. In the emergent world order, USA and India are pitted against Pakistan. Now the KSA joins in and will help the US to finally contain China.