Pakistanis must stand against Saudi influence: Analyst

Press TV has interviewed Ali al-Ahmed, director of the Institute for [Persian] Gulf Affairs (IGA) in Washington, about Pakistani senators voicing strong objection to their country being part of a recently-announced Saudi-led alliance allegedly formed to fight terrorism.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Well looking at this situation, it seems that Saudi Arabia tried to get this alliance together very quickly and that many of the entities that were included in the list were not even informed. Tell me what do you think is going on? Why do we see that Saudi is trying to get this so-called anti-terrorist coalition together even with entities that do not even know they are supposed to be there and excluding some entities that you would think would be there if really the goal was to fight terrorism?

Ahmed: Well the main driver behind this announcement is domestic. The Saudi King’ son, the Minister of Defense Mohammed bin Salman is trying to take over the portfolio of terrorism from his cousin and rival, the Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef. So this is the main reason for this. It has nothing to do with anti-terror alliance.

The Saudi monarchy also wants to give the appearance that it is fighting terrorism. In fact it is funding terrorism. So this in a way also provides cover for the Saudi government support of terrorism including in Pakistan. Let us remember the industry of terrorism in Pakistan started with the Saudi assistance dating back to the 1980s. So Pakistan today is in the midst of a terrorism problem since the 1980s because of Saudi involvement in Pakistan. It is the ideology that was exported with the Saudi monarchy, it is the money and the school and the network that was established by King Faisal to spread this sort of ideology of terrorism that continues to kill Pakistanis and the Pakistanis honestly have failed so far to address this and confront it. For some reason they are afraid to speak out on the Saudi destruction of their own country. I think it is time for patriotic Pakistanis to stand up and speak truth.  

Press TV: Is it that they are afraid or many would say that a lot of them have been bought off by Saudi petrodollars? How do you see it?

Ahmed: I agree. It is not the first government that has done so. The previous prime minister and his government did the same thing.  So Pakistan because of its corruption, because of its elitist politics has failed so far to address this problem but the Pakistani people must realize one thing that the Saudi monarchy does not represent Islam, the fact that Mecca and Medina are in what is currently known as Saudi Arabia does not give the Saudis any purity. The Saudi monarchy, the monarchy itself is un-Islamic because Islam does not allow for monarchy.

So let us make sure we have our priority right, the fact straight that the Saudi government does not represent Islam. They do not cleave Islam as a faith so they should come around and realize to protect Pakistan from Saudi influence that has brought nothing but destruction, suicide attacks and the murder of hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis. Stability in Pakistan depends on the fact that Saudi Arabia and its influence in Pakistan should be terminated.  

Press TV: But you are saying either way this latest move was trying to form this coalition in reality is actually the result of a power struggle within Saudi Arabia itself, correct?

Ahmed: Yes, definitely. That is why Mohammed bin Salman has announced this alliance without the knowledge of most of the important players. Yet also they are using that again as a cover to protect themselves from criticism and you see their writers and analysts, hired analysts speaking in the same breath that oh, Saudi Arabia is the only power that can defeat terrorism. Not so, they are the godfather and godmother of ISIS (Daesh) and al-Qaeda alongside with the Qatari government as well. So you are talking about the puppet master trying to play victim of terrorism.

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