Riyadh Summit and Pakistan
The 2017 Riyadh summit was a series of three summits held on 20–21 May 2017 on the occasion of the visit of United States President Donald Trump to Saudi Arabia, his first trip overseas. The summit included one bilateral meeting, between the United States and Saudi Arabia, and two multilateral meetings, one between the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the other with Arab and Muslim countries. Leaders and representatives of 55 Arab and Muslim countries were in attendance.
King Salman and President Trump gave keynote addresses at the Arab Islamic American Summit. Trump called for Muslim leaders to "drive out" terrorism from their countries, and condemned Hamas and the Iranian government for their support of the government of Bashar al-Assad. Also speaking were President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah of Kuwait, King Abdullah II of Jordan, President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, and Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia.
It very well might not have been his intention, but by singling out India alone as a victim of terror among the South Asian states, Trump upheld New Delhi’s narrative on Kashmir, and completely shelved Pakistan’s claims of “India-sponsored terrorism,” specifically in the volatile province of Balochistan. The U.S. president identify India as a victim of terror, he not acknowledge Pakistan as one.
Trump also snubbed a request for a meeting with Nawaz Sharif, whom he only met with on the sidelines of the summit, while having well publicized talks with many other leaders.
This would’ve been a setback at most gatherings, but for the U.S.-Saudi leadership to silence Pakistan’s narrative at an “Islamic” summit was particularly damaging, considering that Islamabad has long held Islam as a foreign policy tool and has based its support for the Kashmiri struggle on religious affiliation as well.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif spent the entire duration of his flight to Riyadh rehearsing his address to the summit, which included leaders of 55 Muslim-majority states. Yet Nawaz Sharif wasn’t invited to address the summit. Neither was Raheel Sharif who head the Saudi-led Islamic military coalition
The leaders stressed the rejection of sectarian agendas, citing their dangerous repercussions on the security of the region and the world at large. The leaders welcomed the readiness of a number of Islamic countries to participate in the Islamic Military Coalition to combat terrorism to provide a reserve force of 34,000 troops to support operations against terrorist organizations in Iraq and Syria when needed. They welcomed the progress achieved on the ground in the fight against ISIS, praising the participation of Arab and Islamic countries and their support for the International Alliance against ISIS.
At the close of the summit the leaders inaugurated the new Global Center for Combating Extremism in Riyadh, intended as a centre of excellence for fighting violent extremism which is conducive to terrorism, involving a number of international counter-extremism experts. To officially open the center King Salman, President Trump, and President el-Sisi placed their hands on a glowing orb in the shape of a globe, which was cause for mirth among the international media.
Pakistani media described Nawaz Sharif’s presence at the so-called Muslim leader’s summit, as a fiasco. It has two main reasons: first, because of Sharif’s inability to secure his inclusion on U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s agenda and, second, because of his failure to register Pakistan’s position as a country that has suffered greatly from terrorism and fought valiantly against it. It is important to note too that the United States and India have been working closely on forging a partnership to counterweight the growing role of China a close ally of Pakistan, in the South Asian region.
Eventually Pakistan’s reputation goes into tattered and its call of the time that Pakistan needs to look inward to plug loopholes that continue to plague the country’s foreign policy choices and preferences.