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Iraq and Pakistan established diplomatic relations in 1947. Cultural interaction and economic trade between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley date back to 1800 BCE. [1] In 1955, both Iraq and Pakistan joined the Baghdad Pact, a military alliance against the Soviet Union. [2] However, when the king of Iraq was assassinated in 1958, Iraq pulled out of the Baghdad Pact, which was subsequently renamed to the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO). During the Ba'athist era, relations were at times cordial and sometimes hostile. However, following the 2003 invasion of Iraq that toppled the Ba'athist government, bilateral relations have stabilized; Pakistan has supported Iraq in its fight against the Islamic State and other militant groups active in the Iraqi conflict. Iraq maintains an embassy in Islamabad while Pakistan maintains an embassy in Baghdad.
Pakistan and Iraq joined the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) in 1955 to oppose the Soviet Union; however, Iraq withdrew in 1959, following the 14 July Revolution. [3]
Relations between the two countries deteriorated during the 1970s, beginning with the 1971 Organization of Islamic Conference summit in Lahore. Iraq was the second country and first Arab country to recognise Bangladesh as a sovereign nation after East Germany in 1972. [4] Iraq's then-President Hassan al-Bakr financially and militarily supported the Balochistan Liberation Army during the internal rebellion in Balochistan. The support continued till 1973 when the Military Intelligence of Pakistan convinced Akbar Bugti to join Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's government as a governor of the province, who was a Baloch leader, to defect to Pakistan.[ citation needed ]
On 10 February 1973, the Punjab Rangers and the Islamabad Police raided the Iraqi embassy in Islamabad without warning the Iraqi government. This tactical operation revealed a large cache of arms, ammunition, and hand grenades. Other weapon supplies were found in crates marked "Foreign Ministry, Baghdad" and these were allegedly for the Pakistani Baloch rebels. Pakistan expelled and declared persona non grata for Iraqi Ambassador Hikmat Sulaiman and other consular staff.
In a letter written to President Richard Nixon on 14 February 1973, Pakistan's Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto blamed India, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Soviet Union, for involvement in a "conspiracy ... [with] subversive and irredentist elements which seek to disrupt Pakistan's integrity." [4]
A successful military operation led to dismantling of Baloch rebels in the province. [5] In the 1980s, the Martial Law Administrator of Balochistan, General Rahimuddin Khan, enacted policies that stabilized the province. [5] In the wake of the Iran–Iraq War, the Gulf Cooperation Council was formed in 1981 in the Middle East. [6] During the war, President Saddam Hussein unsuccessfully tried to work with the Baloch rebels to divert Iran's focus to Pakistan. [5] Most of the military instructors were from the Pakistan Armed Forces. Around 40,000 military personnel of Pakistan Armed Forces were stationed in Saudi Arabia to reinforce the internal and external security of the country. [6]
The Iran-Iraq war was a polarizing issue in Pakistan, with half of its population now under threat from its own Shiite population and from Iran. [7] President Zia increased Pakistan's security, knowing that since the country was close to the United States, it might get pulled into a war. The high-ranking members of Pakistan Armed Forces objected to the killing of Shiite pilgrims in Saudi Arabia. Zia did not issue any orders to Pakistan Armed Forces-Arab Contingent Forces, to engage any country militarily. [6]
The Iran–Iraq war provided Zia with an opportunity to contend with Iran. [6] Many stinger missiles shipped for Afghan Mujahideen were sold to Iran, which was a defining factor for the country in the Tanker War. [6]
In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait due to the increasing political tensions between the two Arab nations. Pakistan endorsed the United States-led military campaign against Iraq, with Chief of Army staff, General Aslam Beg and Chairman Joint Chiefs Admiral Iftikhar Sirohey overseeing the deployment of the Pakistan Armed Forces Middle East Contingent forces. [8]
General Beg accused Western countries of encouraging Iraq to invade Kuwait, though he continued to lead his armed forces against Iraq in support of Saudi Arabia. [9] [10] [11] As Iraq's war with Kuwait divided Pakistanis, Beg carefully commanded and deployed the Pakistan Armed Forces' contingent forces during the Operation Desert Storm. [8] [10] [12]
After the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq began building closer relations with India. [13] In 2000, then-Iraqi Vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan visited India, and on 6 August 2002, President Saddam Hussein conveyed Iraq's "unwavering support" to India over the Kashmir dispute with Pakistan. India and Iraq established joint ministerial committees and trade delegations to promote extensive bilateral co-operation. [14] [15]
In 2003, before the outbreak of the Iraq War, Pakistan announced that it was opposed to any military action against Iraq. [16] Pakistan was under public pressure to vote against the war, although some had considered voting for the war. [17] However, after the war ended, Pakistan indicated that it was willing to send its Middle East military contingent forces to Iraq for peacekeeping if they required it. [18]
The United States and the United Kingdom made many calls for the deployment of the Pakistan military's contingent forces for peacekeeping operations in Iraq. [19] However, the Pakistan military officials said "given the uprising against the US-led coalition forces in Iraq and the internal anarchy there, sending our troops at this time would be like jumping into fire." [19] Tensions between the two countries remained intense over the issue of foreign hostages in Iraq. During 2004–05, 14 Pakistani citizens were made hostages out of which two were killed. [20] [21] However, the relations were normalized following the United States troops troop withdrawal from Iraq. In 2013, both countries signed a defence pact. [22] [23]
Iraq's ambassador to Pakistan Dr. Rushdi Al-Ani claimed that Iraq considers Pakistan "a Muslim super power" and that Iraq was willing to supply Pakistan with oil unconditionally. [24] In 2014 Iraq purchased the Super Mushak trainer aircraft from Pakistan as part of improving defense relations between the two countries. [25]
The War in Iraq (2013–2017), also known as the Third Iraq War, was an armed conflict between Iraq and its allies and the Islamic State from 2013 to 2017. [26] [27] [28] Neither Iraqis nor Pakistani officials have previously acknowledged Pakistan's role in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq. During a news conference held at the embassy, Iraqi Ambassador Ali Yasin Muhammad Karim stated that Pakistan was one of several nations that backed Iraq in its war against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (IS). The purpose of the press conference was to inform Pakistani media of the IS's evacuation from Mosul.
Speaking about Pakistan's cooperation, the ambassador stated that in addition to receiving intelligence on terrorists, Iraq also benefited from military medical care, weapons, and ammunition supplied by Pakistan. He mentioned that Pakistan had served as a training ground for a number of the Iraqi pilots that flew against the Islamic State.
According to the ambassador, Pakistan and Iraq might deal with the growing presence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (IS) in the region if they continue their intelligence collaboration. He also commended Pakistan for maintaining its neutral stance in the Middle East. [29] [30]
The state visits at ministerial levels by both countries have resulted in the improvement of relations between the two countries. Bilawal bhutto the foreign minister of Pakistan visited Baghdad on a three-day visit to sign Memorandum of Understanding among the Pakistani and Iraqi chambers of federation. During the visit, meetings were held by the foreign minister with the Iraqi leadership laid the foundation stone of Pakistan’s own embassy which was building in Iraq, according to the Pakistani foreign office. Both countries also signed agreements to end the diplomatic visas between both countries on diplomatic level. [31]
Pakistan's foreign minister stated Iraq ‘a true friend’ of Pakistan, he expressed the hope to reinvigorate fraternal ties and transform them into exemplary beneficial economic relations. Pakistan's Foreign Minister met with Iraq's President to strengthen ties between the two countries. They pledged to cooperate more in areas like water management, agriculture, defense, and trade. [32]
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a Pakistani barrister, politician, and statesman. He served as the fourth president of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973 and later as the ninth prime minister of Pakistan from 1973 to 1977. Bhutto founded the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and served as its chairman until his execution.
The military history of Pakistan encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas constituting modern Pakistan and greater South Asia. The history of the modern-day military of Pakistan began in 1947, when Pakistan achieved its independence as a modern nation.
The dynamic between the League of Arab States and the Islamic Republic of Iran has been ambivalent, owing to the latter's varying bilateral conduct with each country of the former. Iran is located on the easternmost frontier of the Arab League, which consists of 22 Arab countries and spans the bulk of the Middle East and North Africa, of which Iran is also a part. The Arab League's population is dominated by ethnic Arabs, whereas Iran's population is dominated by ethnic Persians; and while both sides have Islam as a common religion, their sects differ, with Sunnis constituting the majority in the Arab League and Shias constituting the majority in Iran. Since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979, the country's Shia theocracy has attempted to assert itself as the legitimate religious and political leadership of all Muslims, contesting a status that has generally been understood as belonging to Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia, where the cities of Mecca and Medina are located. This animosity, manifested in the Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict, has greatly exacerbated the Shia–Sunni divide throughout the Muslim world.
The Fourth Balochistan Conflict was a five-year military conflict in Balochistan, the largest province of Pakistan, between the Pakistan Army and Baloch separatists and tribesmen that lasted from 1973 to 1977.
Iran and Pakistan established relations on 14 August 1947, the day of the independence of Pakistan, when Iran became the first country to recognize Pakistan. Both sides continue to cooperate economically where possible and have formed alliances in a number of areas of mutual interest, such as fighting the drug trade along their border and combating the insurgency in the Balochistan region.
Beginning at 12:00 p.m. on 21 November 1979, a large mob of Pakistani citizens violently stormed the Embassy of the United States in Islamabad and subsequently burned it down in a coordinated attack. The riot was led by local Islamists aligned with the right-wing Pakistani political party Jamaat-i-Islami, and the mob primarily comprised students from Quaid-i-Azam University. Lasting for almost 24 hours, the riot had been incited by Iranian religious cleric Ruhollah Khomeini, who was leading the Islamic Revolution at the time, after he falsely claimed in a widespread Iranian radio broadcast that the then-ongoing Grand Mosque seizure in Saudi Arabia had been orchestrated by the United States and Israel, prompting many anti-American riots throughout the Muslim world. During the attack, the Pakistani rioters took several American diplomats as hostages with the intent of carrying out sham trials and public executions. In addition to Islamabad, there were similarly large riots in Karachi, Lahore, and Rawalpindi, where a number of American cultural centres were attacked and burned down.
The 1973 raid on the Iraqi embassy in Pakistan was an armed infiltration carried out by Pakistan in February 1973 at the embassy of Ba'athist Iraq in Islamabad. The raid, carried out by the Pakistan Rangers and the Islamabad Police, was launched after the interception of information by Pakistani intelligence that uncovered large-scale covert Iraqi involvement in the supply of weapons and funds to militants waging an insurgency against Iran and Pakistan in the Balochistan region situated between the two countries. Following the embassy raid, an abundance of funds and Soviet armaments from Iraq that were meant for Baloch insurgents were seized by Pakistani forces, and the Iraqi ambassador to Pakistan as well as the embassy's staff were immediately expelled from Pakistan and declared personae non gratae. Pakistan's findings in the embassy raid heightened tensions between Iran and Iraq, which, in 1974, escalated into armed clashes over the Shatt al-Arab, a river that was formerly subject to a territorial dispute between the two nations that later served as one of the key factors that propelled them into a full-scale and protracted war in 1980 following the Iranian Revolution. The event led to a severe deterioration in Iraq–Pakistan relations and contributed to Pakistan's heavy backing of Iran during the latter's eight-year-long war with Iraq.
The political history of Pakistan is the narrative and analysis of political events, ideas, movements, and leaders of Pakistan. Pakistan gained independence from the United Kingdom on 14 August 1947, when the Presidencies and provinces of British India were divided by the United Kingdom, in a region which is commonly referred to as the Indian subcontinent. Since its independence, Pakistan has had a colorful yet turbulent political history at times, often characterized by martial law and inefficient leadership.
Iraq–Saudi relations are the bilateral and diplomatic relations between the Republic of Iraq and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Both sovereign states share the Iraq–Saudi Arabia border.
Bilateral relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia have been strained over several geopolitical issues, such as aspirations for regional leadership, oil export policy and relations with the United States and other Western countries. Diplomatic relations were suspended from 1987 to 1990, and in 2016 for seven years following certain issues like the intervention in Yemen, Iran embassy bombing in Yemen, incidents in 2015 Hajj, the execution of Nimr al-Nimr, the attack on the Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran. However, in March 2023, after discussions brokered by China, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to reestablish relations.
Pakistan–Syria relations are the historic, international, and bilateral relations between Syria and Pakistan. Syria has an embassy in Islamabad. Pakistan is represented in Syria through its embassy in Damascus. Through the ancient civilization exchange, areas of modern Pakistan were part of the silk route with the Syria and for centuries, Syrian Islamic missionaries that introduced Islam in the parts of now integrated in Pakistan after 711 AD were from Syria.
Egypt–Pakistan relations refers to the bilateral relations between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Modern relations traced back to 1947 when founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah paid a farewell visit to Egypt on the special invitation sent by King Fuad II. Egypt has an embassy in Islamabad and Pakistan has an embassy in Cairo. Both countries are members of the OIC and the "D8". Pakistan and Egypt are both designated Major Non-NATO allies, giving them access to certain levels of hardware and surplus military equipment from the United States.
Saudi Arabia and Turkey relations have long fluctuated between cooperation and alliance to enmity and distrust. Since the 19th century, the two nations have always had a complicated relationship. While Turkey and Saudi Arabia are major economic partners, the two have a tense political relationship, deemed from the historic enmity.
Content from the United States diplomatic cables leak has depicted Saudi Arabia and related subjects extensively. The leak, which began on 28 November 2010, occurred when the website of WikiLeaks — an international new media non-profit organization that publishes submissions of otherwise unavailable documents from anonymous news sources and news leaks — started to publish classified documents of detailed correspondence — diplomatic cables — between the United States Department of State and its diplomatic missions around the world. Since the initial release date, WikiLeaks is releasing further documents every day.
Content from the United States diplomatic cables leak has depicted Pakistan and related subjects extensively. The leak, which began on 28 November 2010, occurred when the website of WikiLeaks – an international new media non-profit organisation that publishes submissions of otherwise unavailable documents from anonymous news sources and news leaks – started to publish classified documents of detailed correspondence – diplomatic cables – between the United States Department of State and its diplomatic missions around the world. Since the initial release date, WikiLeaks is releasing further documents every day.
Historically, relations between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia could be considered as extending several centuries back to the relations between earlier regimes in Egypt – the highly autonomous Egypt Eyalet in the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Egypt – and the earlier manifestations of Saudi/Wahhabi power in the Arabian Peninsula. Saudi Arabia and Egypt are both highly influential countries in the Arab world. Egypt is the most populous Arab country, and Saudi Arabia is a member of the G20. According to a 2013 Pew global opinion poll, 78% of Egyptians express a favourable view of Saudi Arabia, and 19% express an unfavourable view.
During the 1980s Iran–Iraq War, the foreign policy of Pakistan played a complex role in the war.
Pakistan Armed Forces deployments include all Pakistani military deployments that are stationed outside Pakistan and serving in other countries. The sixth largest military power in terms of active troops, Pakistan has an extensive history of overseas military presence, especially in the Middle East, where it has maintained military contingents, missions and battalions in several states. As part of its foreign policy efforts to expand its military relations and influence in the region, Pakistan signed defence protocols during the 1970s with several Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, Libya, Jordan, Iraq, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, under which members of the armed forces of these countries were imparted professional training by Pakistani advisers and military trainers. Saudi Arabia signed a bilateral agreement with Pakistan on defense cooperation; during that time, there were 50,000 to 60,000 Pakistani military personnel serving abroad with the largest number of these, about 20,000, deployed in Saudi Arabia.
Iran and Saudi Arabia are engaged in an ongoing struggle for influence in the Middle East and other regions of the Muslim world. The two countries have provided varying degrees of support to opposing sides in nearby conflicts, including the civil wars in Syria and Yemen; and disputes in Bahrain, Lebanon, Qatar, and Iraq. The struggle also extends to disputes or broader competition in other countries globally including in West, North and East Africa, South, Central, Southeast Asia, the Balkans, and the Caucasus.
The Islamic Republic of Iran and Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan share a long but complicated relationship which has, at times, been tense and unstable. Jordan has an embassy in Tehran.
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