Any attack on Saudi Arabia is attack on Pakistan: minister

The minister for religious affairs on Tuesday strongly condemned the Houthi strikes against Saudi civilian infrastructure and Umrah pilgrims, saying Islamabad considers any attack on the Kingdom as an attack on Pakistan under its defence pacts with Saudi Arabia.

Sardar Muhammad Yousaf, minister for religious affairs, told Arab News at a news conference at the National news Club in Islamabad, where leaders of significant Pakistani religious parties and lawmakers met to show support with the Kingdom.

The comments followed a series of strikes by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi militia on civilian and oil installations in Saudi Arabia. A Pakistani national was murdered and 11 others injured in attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Sunday, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation stated .

Pakistan stood in solidarity with Saudi Arabia and Islamabad saw the security and stability of the Kingdom as inseparable from its own, Yousaf told Arab News Pakistan.

“We consider any attack that anyone has made on Saudi Arabia as an attack on Pakistan,” the minister stated. “No Muslim can accept the attacks on Haramain Sharifain (Two Holy Mosques) and Hejaz-e-Muqaddas (Makkah and Madinah) to weaken the power of Muslims.”

Pakistan is taking tangible steps to support Saudi Arabia, the minister said. The recently inked Makkah defence deal between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye is aimed at achieving collective security through concrete defensive measures, he added.

“Pakistan has also practically proved it (support for Saudi Arabia) and is taking all kinds of steps for this and God willing it will continue to take them,” Yousaf said.

Last year, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed a bilateral Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement (SMDA), while Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey signed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement in August. The defence pacts say that an armed attack on one member is an attack on all.

Yousaf decried Houthi strikes on Umrah pilgrims in the Kingdom, whom he claimed presented no threat to anyone.

“This is such a heart-wrenching incident that has happened. [Attack on] Umrah pilgrims,” he remarked.

“Look, this is part of our faith as Muslims. Anyone who goes to undertake Umrah or Hajj, goes to seek forgiveness for their sins… They don’t go to fight somebody. They don’t go to assault somebody.”

Yousaf said Pakistan’s political leadership, religious parties and state institutions were united in their support for the government’s stand on Saudi Arabia.

When the time comes, Muslims across the world and the people of Pakistan in particular are willing to sacrifice their lives and wealth in defence of the sanctity of the Kingdom, Yousaf added.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan party chief Shah Owais Noorani said Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were separated geographically, but “bound by the bond of faith”.

There can be no justification for attacks on Umrah pilgrims or the holy sites of Islam,” he said.