Amna Razzaq
A renowned 20th century political scientist Karl Deutsch defined “proxy war” as “an international conflict between two foreign powers, fought out on the soil of a third country, disguised as a conflict over an internal issue of the country and using some of that country’s manpower, resources and territory as a means of achieving preponderantly foreign goals and foreign strategies. It is certainly time to discuss the problem of proxy war in the Middle East, because series of such wars are the heart of destabilization and chaos engulfing the region in particular and the whole Muslim word in general. For three years, Yemen has been touted as a successful model of international intervention to contain the crisis triggered by the Arab Spring. Many overlapping local, regional, and international issues have contributed to the collapse of the political process, including the Saudi-Iranian conflict and the regional struggle to support or oppose the Muslim Brotherhood. The current toxic rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran is another manifestation of the deep decay that has set in the Muslim world. The two countries are locked in a power struggle and are primarily using the classic sectarian divide to strengthen their respective positions. The 34-country Saudi-led alliance formed with the avowed purpose of fighting the most brutal of insurgent groups, the Islamic State, is also supposed to serve the more important role of acting as a bulwark against Iran’s expansionist designs. Pakistan, caught by surprise when this alliance was announced, flip-flopped, but with its top leadership having leanings towards Saudi Arabia, joined the coalition. Tensions between Riyadh and Tehran have been running high since the January 2 execution of leading Shia cleric Nimr al Nimr and the subsequent attacks on Saudi Embassy and consulate in Iran. Saudi Arabia and some of its allies have cut off ties with Iran, triggering a diplomatic crisis in the region. Hence the heightening belligerency and non-cooperation between both sides will only benefit the vicious and self-perpetuating parochial ideology of ISIS. Moreover, after Turkey-Russia row, the latest friction between KSA and Iran seems a well engineered plot to create a more easy and uncontestable environment for Israel in the region.
Pakistan has had her fair share in world affairs and news since her inception in 1947. As far as the role of Pakistan is concerned in diffusing the tensions between the two regional powers of Middle East, it would be fair to say that we take the center stage for the unity of Ummah. No matter how many problems Pakistan has but when the time arises to help and assist other Muslim nations Pakistani’s forget their own problems and Alhamdulillah are ready to do all they can to help. Pakistan is in a unique position to mediate between the two countries, according a senior military official aboard the plane carrying Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff Gen. Raheel Sharif to the Saudi capital Riyadh on Monday. Prime Minister Sharif later held a meeting with Saudi King Salman. And it is a sensitive move by Pakistan to reduce the tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Geographic, geopolitical and geo-economic reasons along with issues of religious sensitivities compel Pakistan not to take sides in the rivalry. To safeguard its internal communal harmony and stability, neutrality is the best choice for Pakistan to make. However this recent episode of “regional proxy war” completely misses the seriousness of the problem. It turns its proxy war concept into an abstract and virtually antiseptic problem of limiting Iranian influence in the region through the US bombing Iraq. It ignores the fact that the regional actors behind the wars in Syria, Iraq and Libya are pulling the region into a new era of unbridled sectarian violence and instability. As the crisis escalates, there has been little in the form of proactive diplomacy from the international community to lessen the cross-Gulf tensions, apart from appeals for restraint. Israel is another beneficiary of this intra-Muslim conflict. Regrettably, not only has the world’s attention digressed from the plight of Palestinians, the common hatred for Iran and for Syria’s Assad has brought old foes, Saudi Arabia and Israel, closer to each other. It would have serious implications over the plight of Palestinians people who are witnessing growing aggression from Israel. Only Russia has offered to mediate.
The UN must play a more visible role in cooling tempers as the Middle East cannot afford a Saudi-Iranian conflagration. Likewise, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to play a role to end the conflict in Yemen. Peace is the best way to move forward hence, Pakistan will have to play a pivotal role in bringing peace to the region without upsetting Iran or Saudi Arabia. For this media should follow the guidelines issued by the PEMRA to avoid generating controversies on the issue and urge for de-escalation of the tension. For any conflict resolution model to succeed, it must avoid falling under the pressure of time, and it must not discuss political and administrative issues before resolving immediate problems. There is no plausible reason why Saudi Arabia and Iran should confront each other to establish control or create groups or blocs to the detriment of the other. Iran has a role to play in the region that will not necessarily be at the cost of Saudi Arabia. It must also recognize the need to disarm non-state actors on all sides of the conflict. But most importantly, Yemen must not be allowed to turn into an arena for regional conflicts, like Syria today or Lebanon before it. Military action alone is not going to bring peace to Yemen and the Saudi-led intervention cannot completely eliminate Saleh or the Houthis without destroying the country.
