Should India really embrace Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit?

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman hugs India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi upon his arrival at an airport in New Delhi on February 19, 2019. (Image: Reuters)

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is on a two-day visit to India and was welcomed by President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with an embrace of course.

The reason for his visit is the strengthening of bilateral ties in various sectors, including energy and defence. If it’s a run-of-the-mill visit by a foreign dignitary, then what makes it controversial, you ask? Well, like in a David Fincher film, the timing.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s (popularly known as MBS) visit to India comes within five days of the terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, which killed 40 jawans and infuriated the entire nation. After the attack, PM Modi had vowed to hunt down the perpetrators and avenge each drop of the martyrs' blood.

The responsibility of the attack was claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a banned terrorist organization which reportedly operates from Pakistani soil. JeM chief Masood Azhar, one of the most notorious terrorists in the world who was also responsible for the 2001 Parliament Attack, is said to be under “house arrest” in Pakistan.

His Visit to Pakistan

Before coming to India, MBS was on a two-day visit to Islamabad where he announced investments worth of $20 billion in Pakistani petrochemicals, power generation, and mining projects. Meanwhile, the Indian government was fighting tooth and nail to stop funds to Pakistan, pleading to P5 countries to isolate the nation on all global platforms.

MBS was also honoured by Pakistan which bestowed its highest civilian award on the young Saudi prince, gave him a gold-plated gun and declared a public holiday in his honour. And why not, the $20 billion dole will help Pakistan avert the financial crisis that it is facing.

His Promises for India

However, MBS was generous and respectful enough to fly to Riyadh first as New Delhi expressed reservations over his direct arrival from Islamabad. Not only that, ahead of the visit, Saudi Arabia's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir said Riyadh will try to "de-escalate" tensions between India and Pakistan.

After visiting India, and taking cognizance of how “extremism and terrorism are common concerns” for India and Pakistan, MBS issued a joint statement with Modi, where he said, “We would like to tell our friend India that we’ll cooperate on all fronts, including intelligence sharing. We’ll work with everyone to ensure a brighter future for our upcoming generations.”

Worrying, and ironic

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia itself is engaged in a war in Yemen which has killed more than 6,800 civilians and injured at least 10,700 since March 2015. The four-year-long war, which stemmed from a power struggle between Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia and Shia rebel group Houthis, has left 20 million Yemenis in danger of a famine.

Such are the catastrophic ramifications of the war that the House of Representatives has voted to end the American military assistance for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen.  Maybe that is why 33-year-old MBS has turned to Asian countries.

Also, MBS was recently shunned by much of the world after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018. Khashoggi, a prominent journalist who wrote for The Washington Post, was murdered in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul. While Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor has said Khashoggi was killed inside the building on the orders of “a rogue intelligence officer”, Turkish officials have claimed that they have evidence, including gruesome audio recordings, that the journalist was killed by a team of Saudi agents on orders that came from the highest levels. His body has not yet been found.

Saudi ties with US are straining over Khashoggi’s murder and waning oil export to the US. No points for guessing MBS’s next stop — China, Pakistan's all-weather ally.

When asked about PM Modi embracing MBS right after he gave a $20 billion dole to Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack, BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav said, “We do not see our relationship with one country through the prism of a third country. That is how we have relations with both Israel and Palestine.”