China, Russia, USA, Iran & Saudi Arabia are the five key players with major interests in bagging this trophy to their individual advantage as the unpredictable U-turnable regime of the so-called Taliban Khan takes over the government of Pakistan. As USA is obsessed with its "off with Russia/Iran" approach sanctioning both together all while wooing the house of Saud with possible nuclearization....most of the key powers are acting fast in the region. Pakistan has always stood by Iran & will continue to stand by its brotherly neighbour but Pakistan will never support Iran in its war against the Saudi Arabia. Why? Because morally, ethically & religiously it is not appropriate to fuel the feud between the two brothers. Coming to Russia already infuriated with USA's sanctions, Pakistan welcomes Russia initiating novel military & strategic partnership in lieu of recent diplomatic harassment of Uncle Sam at the whim of a fascist Delhi. China has always found a special place in Pakistan's heart long before CPEC was even conceived. CPEC has only fortified our diplomatic ties. Why am I telling you all of this? Because I see some really off events happening as Imran Khan aims to take his oath as our PM on the 14th of August. I see General Raheel Sharif petitioned for trying to eradicate terrorism from the muslim countries. GRS is leading a united military front right now that comprises the armies of almost 50 muslim nations. The aim of this front has been 100% non-political & only targeted to eliminate the threat of ISIS & al Qaeda from the muslim nations. Iran has been welcomed to join this united muslim front but Iran has refused calling it a Saudi-Zionist conglomerate being used to target Iranian influence in the respective regions of the world. The reality is that by minimizing the influence of ISIS, this conglomerate has actually failed the attempts of Greater Israel aka Yinon Plan's implementation in the muslim nations. Thus, this alliance has only defeated zionist ambitions not aggravated them. GRS has told Iran multiple times that this alliance will not participate in the Yemen feud & will not target Iran. However, Iran has its insecurities as the pressure of a never-ending Yemen war piles up on top of recently-announced American sanctions. Iran has announced war against US but it needs regional support. It also wants to decrease the influence of house of Saud in the muslim world to garner more support from the muslim nations if it engages in combat. Knowing that Saudi Arabia is at present supporting US in hopes of attaining nuclearization, Iran knows that it cannot achieve popularity till Saudi influence is weakened in the muslim world. That cannot happen when the muslim military alliance keeping these countries safe from terrorism remains hosted by Saudi Arabia. Thus, using Imran as its poster boy, Iran plans to call GRS back on ridiculous grounds in order to weaken the influence of international military muslim alliance & thus weakening the impact of Saudi Arabia. Iran considers this alliance to be an obstacle in its victory in Yemen when the reality is that this alliance has no constitutional participation in the Yemen war. This alliance has in fact foiled many attempts of terrorism targeting the Holy Kaaba & even the sacred mosque of Madina. Iran's paranoia is so much against this alliance & Saudi Arabia that it even allowed Pakistan's arch enemy India take over its ChaBahar port all while Pakistan was trying to recover its terrorism-struck economy via the CPEC. Iran could have approached any other nation to build its port including China or Russia who would have happily helped it but it had to be Pakistan's foe Modi to get the right to build a port right next to Gwadar. Allowing India to build strategically located bases right next to Gwadar in Iran was aimed at weakening Pakistan's defence & pressurizing it to co-operate against Saudis. The reality is that Pakistan has no intentions to take anyone's side here. Pakistan has been trying very hard to remain impartial & neutral in the bloody feud of its two brothers & to support both of them unconditionally in their times of need. This is why when Saudi-Canadian conflict began, Pakistan's foreign office was one of the first ones to support Saudi Arabia & when USA sanctioned Iran, Pakistan stood up again to oppose these sanctions & continues to work with Iran despite pressure from Washington.
While there have been speculations of Saudi funding of political parties we cannot ignore the history of partiality of Imran for Iran in the policies of PTI. Pakistan is a nuclear trophy that both brothers Iran & Saudi Arabia wish to bag at the moment. I would have been sure that Pakistan would have resisted these attempts as it has till now but after Supreme Court threw the ball in Imran's court on GRS's appointment; I am not sure anymore. Imran is a stooge of Iran no matter how much he supports Saudi Arabia on the face. Imran accepted a visit invitation to Iran even before he took oath all while Muhammad bin Salman plans to land in Pakistan as soon as he takes his oath. Imran's entire political history is full of pro-Iran political activism. The last thing he will do is to keep Pakistan's neutrality intact in the deadly feud between Iran & Saudi Arabia. Yemen is starving & it kills me every second to see these children scrambling for pieces of bread. But, losing our nation's impartiality to support one side of this bloody war will make us very much an accomplice of the violators of human rights in Yemen. It takes two to clap & in war both sides are to blame for any inhumane consequences as evidenced in Yemen. If we as a nation cannot end the Yemen war by befriending Saudia & Iran, then we should never be responsible for imposing more starvation & annihilation on our Yemeni brothers by assisting one side completely against the other.
Coming back to General Raheel Sharif, his job cannot be questioned. Look at the figures above to see for yourself how GRS is combatting the musketeers of Israel in the muslim world trying to defeat the Yinon Planners. As the commander of a league that has single-handedly pushed back the perpetrators of Greater Israel by eliminating ISIS, he has done more than expected from him. If Iran is against Israeli expanionism, why is it interested in prematurely ending this very effective strategy against Israeli-sponsored terrorism in the muslim countries?
Both Iran & Saudi Arabia are Pakistan's brothers but when it comes to Pakistan's internal affairs both have no right to meddle with our internal affairs. When was the last time Iran saw Pakistan trying to influence Iranian politicians to call back one of Iranian generals? Never. So why exactly is Iran trying to impose this through its poster boy anticipated to take charge of Pakistan in a few days?
-Dr FAB (Fariya Bukhari, MD)
Chairperson
PakIslam Positive League
Dr Fariya Bukhari, MD aka Dr FAB is a writer/poet/activist/politician/physician/scientist/philanthropist/producer/
journalist/defence analyst & a strategist. She is interested in politics, peace, innovation and global justice. She is working for education, liberation & empowerment of the under-privileged. She is also involved in politics trying to bring a palpable change at Pakistan's political level that ensures protection of masses against human rights violations, injustice, corruption & terrorism. She is a practising physician. She is the Chairperson of
Pak Islam Positive League, a political party of Pakistan. www.pakislamparty.org
