While Prime Minister Imran Khan is cosying up to Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the expense of infuriating the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, powerful Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa has rushed to placate Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who has withheld loans that Pakistan needs for its ailing economy.

Sources in Islamabad told IANS that Gen Bajwa is visiting Riyadh to do the balancing act after Pakistan's recent threats to split the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and its diplomatic shift towards Erdogan who nurtures the ambition of replacing Saudi Arabia as the leader of Sunni Islamic nations.

Hit by a severe economic crisis, Pakistan had borrowed $6.2 billion from Saudi Arabia in 2018. The loan package included a provision under which Saudi Arabia granted Pakistan $3.2 billion worth of oil, a year on deferred payments.

However, Saudi Arabia has halted the provision of oil on loan for Pakistan after the Imran Khan government threatened to split the OIC over Kashmir.

The Imran Khan government has been seeking support from the 57-member OIC, the biggest bloc of Islamic countries in the world. Recently Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi during a talk show on a Pakistani news channel had threatened that if the OIC headed by Saudi Arabia did not convene a foreign ministers' meeting on Kashmir, Prime Minister Imran Khan would hold it on his own with his allies among the Islamic nations.

One of the major reasons for OIC's lack of support for Pakistan has been Riyadh's displeasure with Islamabad's proximity with Turkey's Erdogan who has been openly challenging the Saudi kingdom's leadership. Last year, Malaysia's then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad hosted a summit on the future of the �Muslim Ummah' with Turkey's President and Pakistan's Prime Minister as main speakers.

Though Khan, cancelled his trip at the last minute but the message went out to Riyadh that Turkey-Pakistan-Malaysia were attempting to build a new Muslim bloc, challenging its leadership. Pakistan's conundrum now is that on the one hand, its deeply troubled economy requires massive funds from Saudi Arabia, in addition to the loans it has already taken from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and on the other hand, the Pakistani military which has been waging a proxy war in the name of Islam and the "Muslim Ummah" in Kashmir, has lost its leverage against India.

"There is a major tussle in Islamabad right now. Pakistan's ordinary citizens fear China and the Chinese because we know they will not spare us if we fail to pay our loans. But the Pakistan Army has joined hands with Beijing only to sustain the luxurious and pampered life our military is used to. If common people had any say, Pakistan would still align with Saudi Arabia, the leader of the Muslim world and the US," said a Karachi businessman who did not want to be named. (IANS)