A Tale of Two Countries
VIEW EVENT DETAILSMutual interests of Riyadh and Islamabad congregate in numerous areas. If Pakistan’s need for energy is grave and longstanding, the presence of over 1.5 million Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia makes it a mutually dependent partnership. The two countries share defense ties, with Pakistan having deployed defense equipment and military personnel in Saudi Arabia’s times of need. Pakistan has now been entrusted with the job of creating the framework of the military alliance that Saudi Arabia has proposed for Muslim nations, akin to NATO. Pakistan has also joined a Saudi Arabia led coalition in fighting terrorism. As Saudi Arabia diversifies its regional security partnerships, Pakistan features as an important ally. Pakistan has maintained a neutral stance in the region as it deals with sectarianism at the home turf. What does this mean for Saudi Arabia and the rest of the gulf nations?. Join Christophe Jaffrelot, the director of CERI-Sciences Po, and Pramit Palchaudhuri, Foreign Editor, Hindustan Times as they unravel the religious, geopolitical and diplomatic plots in the chronicles of these Asian news makers.
Christophe Jaffrelot is Professor of Indian Politics and Sociology at the King's India Institute, and Research Director at the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique). He also teaches South Asian politics and history at Sciences Po (Paris) and is an Overseas Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He was Director of CERI (Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches Internationales) at Sciences Po, between 2000 and 2008. His research interests include: theories of nationalism and democracy; mobilization of the lower castes and untouchables in India; Hindu nationalist movement; ethnic conflicts in Pakistan; the Dargah culture (with special reference to Ajmer sharif as a shared sacred space) and the relations between businessmen and politicians in India (with special reference to Gujaratis).
Pramit Palchaudhuri was a 2007 Bernard Schwartz Fellow and is a member of Asia Society's Global Council. Mr. Chaudhuri is also the foreign editor of the Hindustan Times, the primary newspaper of the Indian capital New Delhi. He is a Distinguished Fellow and Head of Strategic Affairs at the Ananta Aspen Centre in New Delhi. He is a senior associate at Rhodium Group and an advisor to the Bower Group Asia. He served for four years as a member of the Indian government’s National Security Advisory Board, a body that provides policy inputs to the Indian Prime Minister’s Office in security and economic fields, from 2011 to 2014
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