Australian National University THESES SIS/LIBRARY TELEPHONE: +61 2 6125 4631 R.G. MENZIES LIBRARY BUILDING NO:2 FACSIMILE: +61 2 6125 4063 THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY EMAIL: [email protected] CANBERRA ACT 0200 AUSTRALIA USE OF THESES This copy is supplied for purposes of private study and research only. Passages from the thesis may not be copied or closely paraphrased without the written consent of the author. PAKISTAN'S RELATIONS WITH THE MIDDLE EAST by Beverley M. Male SUMMARY The origins of Pakistan's relations with the Middle East lie in the history of the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent before 1947 and their contacts with fellow Muslims in the Ottoman Empire, both Arabs and Turks, who had developed quite different traditions. Such interchange as took place involved only slightly those who eventually took leading roles in the government of Pakistan, and little thought was given to the kind of foreign policy Pakistan might follow once it came into existence. Immediately after Partition internal problems engaged the attention of the Government, and hardly more attention was devoted to foreign policy than previously. In the early years, therefore, Pakistan did not have a clearly thought out foreign policy with regard to the Middle East, although relations with the countries of that region soon developed. During the first five years of Pakistan's existence the influence of those who might 2 be termed Pan-Islamists was particularly strong, carried high by the tide of religious fervour surrounding Partition. Three main foreign policy problems concerned Pakistan from the beginning: the Kashmir dispute with India, the quarrel with Afghanistan over Pushtunistan, and the Palestine question. There were some hopes in Pakistan that the formation of a Muslim bloc in international affairs, which would take a neutral position between the Western and Soviet blocs, would assist Pakistan to gain its objectives with respect to these problems more effectively than had the British Commonwealth and the United Nations. Suggestions regarding the formation of a Muslim bloc did not appeal to the countries of the Middle East and were abandoned after 1952, although the ideal of closer collaboration with other Muslim countries was not forgotten in Pakistan. Pakistan's drift towards alignment with America was a gradual movement which gained momentum after 1952. Membership of the Baghdad Pact, which Pakistan joined in 1955, was obviously connected with acceptance of American military aid, but Pakistan had been interested (though not active) in earlier attempts to establish a Middle East defence organisation. Although membership of the Baghdad Pact created difficulties for Pakistan's 3 relations with some of the Arab countries, it meant that for the first time Pakistan was allied to three other Muslim countries - Turkey, Iran and Iraq. The concept of closer collaboration among the countries of the northern tier (Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan) was first manifested in the Saadabad Pact of 1937. Pakistan had come to be considered one of the northern tier countries, and the ideal of closer collaboration within this region developed in Pakistan, along with wider ideas of Muslim solidarity, almost from this time. Some suggestions of confederation appeared from time to time but hostility between Afghanistan and Pakistan precluded any agreement along these lines, and in any case while the idea of Muslim solidarity appealed to most Pakistanis, there was considerable opposition to any proposal which would limit Pakistan's national sovereignty. The Baghdad Pact, renamed Central Treaty Organization in 1959 after Iraq's departure, provided for the first time an institutional framework within which the northern tier countries could operate. It accustomed them to consult regularly with each other on defence and foreign policy matters, although they have not always been in agreement. The formation of Regional Co-operation for Development in 1964 provided an alternative framework for this consultation outside 4 CENTO, and at the same time helped promote economic development on a regional basis. The response of the countries of the Middle East to Pakistan's quarrel with Afghanistan over Pushtunistan and with India over Kashmir places this aspect of Pakistan's foreign relations in the context of its overall foreign policy, as does Pakistan's involvement in the Palestine question which is essentially an Arab problem. Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan are closely connected to the relations of each with the USA and the USSR, and the influence of such Middle Eastern countries as appear interested is negligible. On the question of Kashmir, with the exception of Egypt which maintained a position of neutrality, Pakistan received the verbal and/or diplomatic support of the other countries of the Middle East. This has been only marginally affected by Pakistan's relations with the USA and the USSR, but in turn the attitude of the Middle Eastern countries has not had any appreciable effect on the course or outcome of the Kashmir dispute. Pakistan has involved itself in the Arab-Israel dispute over Palestine, giving diplomatic support to the Arab countries, but Pakistan's intervention on the Palestine question has had no effect on its outcome. Religious affinity with the countries of the Middle East has caused Pakistan to pay more attention 5 to the affairs of this region, of which it sometimes considers itself a part, than of any other outside the subcontinent. Differences existing among the Middle Eastern countries contribute to the difficulties experienced by Pakistan in the conduct of its policy in this region. This policy has from time to time been modified in order to take into account Pakistan's wider interests and its relations with the big powers. PAKISTAN'S RELATIONS WITH THE MIDDLE EAST by Beverley M. Male Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of International Relations, The Australian National University, Canberra November 1969 This thesis is my own original work. / l * . Beverley M. Male Ill Contents Page INTRODUCTION. iv CHAPTER I. Historical Background to Pakistan's Relations with the Middle East 1 CHAPTER II. Some Factors Influencing the Formation of Foreign Policy, 1947-52 55 CHAPTER III. The First Five Years: Developing Relations with the Middle East 104 CHAPTER IV. The Drift Towards Alignment in the Middle East, 1953-55 152 CHAPTER V. The Development of Closer Collaboration in the Northern Tier, 1956-67 203 CHAPTER VI. Regional Co-operation for Development 253 CHAPTER VII. Relations with Afghanistan, a Regional Problem 304 CHAPTER VIII. Kashmir: Middle Eastern Responses to a Pakistani Problem 352 CHAPTER IX. The Palestine Question: Pakistan's Involvement in an Arab Problem 404 CONCLUSION. 460 APPENDIX. Economic Survey of Pakistan, Iran and Turkey 481 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 498 1 iv INTRODUCTION Pakistan's foreign policy is usually considered in the context of its relations with India, or from the point of view of its relations with the great powers. In both cases Pakistan is usually regarded as a part of the Indian subcontinent, and the Kashmir dispute tends to dominate the discussion. This study of Pakistan's relations with the countries of the Middle East is an attempt to see Pakistan's foreign policy in another context and to look beyond the Kashmir dispute and the relationships with the USA, the USSR and China. It is impossible, of course, to ignore these questions, but it is useful to ask what other factors influence Pakistan's foreign policy, and to what extent. Where do Pakistan's relations with the Middle East fit into the entire spectrum of Pakistan's foreign relations? To what extent do its relations with the countries of that region affect other aspects of Pakistan foreign policy, and what influence does Pakistan exert in the Middle East?"*" 1 Most of the research for the thesis was done during a field trip to Pakistan, Turkey and Iran in 1967-8. Much reliance was placed on English language sources, particularly newspapers and periodicals, in Pakistan, and on conversations with diplomats and other officials in Karachi, Rawalpindi, Istanbul, Ankara and Teheran. (cont.) V 'The Middle East' is a slippery term and raises awkward problems of definition. When Pakistanis refer to the Middle East, they sometimes mean that area stretching south from Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan, through the Fertile Crescent, to include the countries of the Arabian peninsula, and across the Red Sea to include Egypt. On other occasions, usually when questions concerning the Arab world are under discussion, the Muslim states of North Africa - Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and the Sudan - are included by implication, as members of the Arab League. In this thesis the first definition is used, although the writer is aware that in references to the Arab League the Muslim states of North Africa must be included, although their policies and attitudes have not been specifically discussed. (cont.) Because of the nature of the information thereby gained, many of these sources cannot be quoted. Such information has been used only to illustrate and not to sustain the main argument. Considerable difficulty was encountered in obtaining Arab and Afghan sources. The BBC Summary of World Broadcasts proved invaluable in this respect, but at times there was no alternative except to refer to Keesing's Contemporary Archives and Asian Recorder. The period under consideration ends in 1967, and only brief reference to subsequent events has been made where this was considered relevant. In the case of Chapter VIII, dealing with the Kashmir dispute, discussion stops with the Tashkent Declaration in January 1966. vi There is, in addition, the question of whether Pakistan itself should be included in the Middle East. When the 'northern tier' is under discussion, Pakistan, along with Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey, is usually considered to be a member, and indeed Pakistan so considers itself.