ZAHEER BHATTI
MUSHAHID Hussain’s reaction to Imran skip ping the Malaysian Summit was apt though wrapped in typical Mushahid civility which to some, ought to have been more incisive in order to sink into a Prime Minister who appears to be increasingly jumping the gun before comprehending the fallout of international commitments he tends to make getting carried away impulsively. His critics lambaste him for not living up to the expectations of courageous leaders like Erdogan of Turkey and Mahatir of Malaysia, who besides Iran were the only Islamic countries which openly spoke for Pakistan against Indian atrocities in, and illegal annexation of India-occupied Kashmir, and declared along with Pakistan’s Imran Khan at the last UN General Assembly to launch a media platform to correct the erratic global perception of Islam. Saudi Arabia and the UAE, despite providing interim relief to Pakistan’s dwindling economy, disappointed not just Pakistan but the entire Islamic world by not frontally condemning India for its merger, lockdown and brutalities against the Muslim majority held-Kashmir. Being the caretakers of the House of God it was to start with, it was bounden Saudi duty to raise their voice to at least force lifting of the five-month long curfew in the besieged State, if not reversal of the Indian decision. Countries in its camp such as the UAE and Bahrain instead, added insult to injury by decorating the stinking leadership of India with their highest State honours; as if in reward for its crimes against humanity. Pakistan has done enough for the Security of the Gulf States and the Arab world particularly Saudi Arabia, to merit a better response by threatening to apply economic sanctions like putting trade and investment on hold over an issue which was a matter of life and death for Pakistan, which could make India behave. It is India which requires Saudi investment much more than the Saudis who can turn to other sources for their needs. Mahatir and Erdogan initiative raising issues like Islamphobia of the West and its lackeys, their blatantly double-faced and discriminatory yardsticks against Muslim nations, and charting a course of action to counter US economic sanctions by mulling over options to discount the self-propellingAmerican Dollar and bartering trade among Muslim countries without it, was a bold attempt to demonstrate resolve of the Muslim world to beat western hegemony. There was nothing in the Kuala Lumpur moot which could have been construed to be against Saudi Arabia except for chastening the OIC to wake up to political and economic challenges in an increasingly polarizing world and to breathe some life into a forum which was becoming irrelevant and moribund for the Ummah. Disappointingly, Imran who ought to have pre-empted reaction from Riyadh by allaying any such fears, not only succumbed to the pressure which Erdogan articulated without mincing his words while Mahatir obliquely expressed disappointment at the conspicuous Pakistani absence, as the Khan scrambled into Saudi King’s audience only to submit to his diktats and opted out of attending the KL summit. Even though the Pakistani Prime Minister extracted some further relief in order to ward off immediate economic challenges, and in the process shook the OIC out of slumber in making Riyadh move to convene an OIC Summit over atrocities in India-occupied Kashmir, it did not reflect a relationship based on mutual respect and sound footing. One can be sure that anticipating the courageous stand taken by some daring Muslim countries to break US hegemony and diluting its influence over the OIC which in effect had been made completely subservient to the West and its proxies in exchange for what most Muslim Arab nations with American bases and troops presence perceive as their security, Saudi Arabia must have been cajoled by Washington planting in the Monarch’s mind that the Malaysia-Turkey move was an attempt to field a parallel Body to weaken his hold over the Islamic Forum. Whereas these States ought to have known that not only were they paying through their nose for the unwarranted and untested presence of their wards, but in fact allowing their Intelligence Network to operate against Muslim interests from these bases. Taking no hint from recentAmerican demands from Japan and South Korea raising its price tag for so-called security, the Arab world was being fast fleeced and drained off its oil reserves mindless of the crimes of the Imperial nexus against humanity and their discrimination of Muslims and Muslim nations; so much for the Ummah whose disintegration was founded not by the Malaysian Summit but by the so-called Coalition of Armies of Islamic Nations minus Iran and other Shia States schemed by the US to keep them apart, rather than raise a NATO like coalition of Islamic Nations to wage Jehad against fissiparous forces working against Muslim nations and minorities around the world; so much for Imran’s efforts to bring them together. Ever since the perceived end of the Cold War creating Imperial and Socialist Blocs which this scribe reckons to be still continuing with radical regrouping, it is strange that the United States despite losing fast both on economic as well as military fronts was still being allowed to rule the roost styling itself as the sole superpower on earth. Pathetic is it not that the three countries heading the list of those squarely responsible for ransacking the entire peaceful world on one pretext on another and partaking its resources, were still being allowed to mask themselves and pretend to behaviours of humanity. It was time to showcase the bigotry, double standards and biases of the US camp and blast their hegemonic agenda. Despite siphoning off by them of much of nature’s wealth provided to the Muslim nations by Providence, with an effective nuclear deterrent there was still enough for the Ummah to realize its economic and military potential, provided that they sink petty differences and through unison, refuse to be exploited by forces of evil. —The writer is a media professional, member of Pioneering team of PTV and a veteran ex Director Programmes.
