India's Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Narwane left for a week on a visit to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. This is the first visit of any Indian army chief in these two countries of West Asia. It is being said that the visit of the Army Chief will deepen the UAE and Saudi's defense relations with India.
This is the third foreign tour of General Narwane. Earlier in October, he went to Myanmar with India's Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla and returned from a tour of Nepal only last month.
The Indian Army has called the tour historic in its statement. General Narwane will meet the army chiefs and senior army officers of both the countries. Their tour will end on 14 December.
He will visit Saudi Arabia after the UAE visit on 9–10 December.
There he will visit the headquarters of the Royal Saudi Force, the Joint Force Command Headquarters, and King Abdulaziz War College. Besides, he will address students and teachers at Saudi National Defense University.
Earlier, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was on a visit to Bahrain and UAE from 24 to 26 November. The Modi government has given West Asia the most important place in its foreign policy.
Visit of General Narwane
The visit of the Army Chief of India has also been given a place by the media of that area. Al Jazeera wrote in his report, "Saudi Arabia is India's fourth-largest trading partner after China, America, and Japan." Apart from this, India also imports the most oil from Saudi. In recent years, the Narendra Modi government has also focused on increasing defense cooperation with the UAE. ''
On the importance of General Jaweera's visit to Saudi and UAE from Al Jazeera, Hapimon Jacob, Professor of International Studies at JNU, said that India wants to increase defense partnership with these two countries. He said that not sending the CDS General Rawat or NSA Ajit Doval to the Army Chief does not seem less than an enigma.
India has 85 lakh workers in the Gulf countries. In Saudi Arabia alone, there are over 27 lakh Indian workers while 30 percent of the UAE population is Indian.
In recent years, the UAE and Saudi Arabia have come closer to India than Pakistan. Both countries have also given Prime Minister Modi the highest civilian honor. Both UAE and Saudi Arabia are building a $ 42 billion petrochemical plant in Maharashtra, India. Both countries feel that India is the largest consumer of energy.
The UAE and Saudi have also remained silent on ending the special status of Kashmir, while Pakistan was under full pressure that both countries should say something. Last month, the UAE stopped granting work visas to citizens of a total of 13 countries. Pakistan is also included in these countries.
The Middle East Eye has prominently marked the tour of General Narwane. It has written in its report, "The Chief of Army Staff of India is visiting Saudi and UAE when the relationship between the two countries with Pakistan is in a very bad phase." Pakistan has been a traditional ally of Saudi Arabia. Recently India criticized the Saudi Arabia-led OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Kashmir was mentioned in the proposal of the OIC Foreign Ministers Meeting).
India's objection
Saudi Arabia had just hosted the G20 summit. To commemorate this, it had issued a banknote on which the member countries had a map. Kashmir was shown differently from India on that map. India had also lodged a strong objection regarding this.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi criticized Saudi Arabia for not calling the OIC meeting on Kashmir a few months ago. After this, Saudi had demanded a loan from Pakistan and the relations between the two countries had derailed. Later, Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa went to Saudi Arabia and tried to normalize the relationship.
The Middle East Eye has written that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was not met during this visit to Bajwa. In February 2018, Saudi did not veto when the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) was included in the suspect list. Pakistan was also shocked in this matter. Saudi had also urged Pakistan to send troops to its military alliance led by Yemen, but Pakistan refused to accept this demand.
Saudi Arabia special for PM Modi
PM Modi, who visited Saudi Arabia on 29 October 2019, said in an interview with Arab News, "For the first time in 2016 I went to Saudi Arabia. During this visit, there was considerable progress in bilateral relations between the two countries. I have met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman five times. I remember the warm meeting before the Crown Prince and on this tour, we are going to meet again with the same enthusiasm. I am confident that under the leadership of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the bilateral relations of the two countries will be strengthened further. ''
Modi said in this interview, "About 27 lakh Indians have made Saudi Arabia their second home. They are also contributing to the progress here. A large number of Indians come here every year on Haj pilgrimage and business. My message to them is that India is proud of the place you have made in Saudi. ''
"Their hard work and commitment has increased India's respect for Saudi and this has helped in strengthening the bilateral relations between the two countries." We are confident that your relationship with Saudi Arabia will continue in this way. ''
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