Iran’s Rouhani makes first visit to Pakistan as president

Islamabad: Iran’s Hassan Rouhani arrived in Pakistan on Friday on a landmark visit, his first since becoming president, at a time when Saudi Arabia is courting Islamabad to increase participation in a new Saudi-led military alliance of mostly Muslim nations.

Pakistan has traditionally close ties with Saudi Arabia, which Iran is hostile to. The kingdom accuses Tehran of supporting Al Houthi rebels in Yemen against the internationally recognised president, Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

Saudi Arabia has been leading a coalition of mostly Gulf Arab states in an air campaign against Al Houthis in the conflict in Yemen.

Last year, Pakistan refused a Saudi request to send troops into Yemen after a vote in Parliament delivered an overwhelming “no”. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited the kingdom in January, expressing support for the alliance but without making any military commitment. Local Pakistani papers have carried unconfirmed reports that Saudi Arabia asked Pakistan’s military chief, Raheel Sharif, to head the alliance.

Rouhani’s visit is also a landmark moment for Iran, after international sanctions in the wake of the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

“This visit means a lot,” said Imtiaz Gul, executive director of the Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies, adding that Pakistan is still “ambivalent” about its participation in the new Saudi-led alliance.

Pakistan, a Muslim-majority country of 180 million, has a Shiite minority that makes up about 15 per cent of the population.

The country frequently sees Islamist militant groups attacking the Shiite minority. For their part, the militant groups accuse Iran of financing a Pakistani militant Shiite group, Tehreek Nafaz-e-Fiqh-e-Jafariya.

On the eve of his visit, Rouhani said, “Constructive relations with neighbours and the Islamic world are on the priority list of our foreign policy.”

“Destabilisation of others causes everlasting conflicts that benefit nobody,” he said in a veiled reference to Saudi Arabia.

“I believe that at this crucial moment of the history of relations between the two countries, it is essential that Pakistan and Iran ... lay the cornerstone of a new bilateral engagement based on the mutual interests of the two countries,” Rouhani added in his statement.

Rouhani’s visit is also expected to discuss a controversial gas pipeline from Iran through Pakistan to India. Work has stalled on the Iran-Pakistan section, which was designed to help Pakistan meet its energy needs. Iran has invested over $2 billion in the project, but Pakistan has yet to finish construction on its half of the pipeline.

Washington had for years opposed the project amid concerns over Tehran’s nuclear programme.