RECENTLY I watched a PTV talk show aired the day the Saudi foreign minister was in Islamabad, where one of the participants was Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Sardar Mohammad Yousuf. In his effusiveness, Sardar Yousuf made two gaffes which I would like to share with your readers.

One, he said Pakistan-Saudi Arabia relations had been strong ever since Mohammad bin Qasim came to our shores. For his information, Pakistan had not come into being when bin Qasim came to Sindh. Two, Saudi Arabia was the first country to recognise Pakistan after its creation.

How many of us remember the last time the Saudi foreign minister paid a bilateral visit to Pakistan. It must be decades ago, I fear.

Sardar Yousuf’s understanding of history is no better. For the first three years after our independence, Saudi Arabia did not allow us to open a resident diplomatic mission in the Kingdom, thanks to negative lobbying by Jawaharlal Nehru (details of this can be seen in the works of Muhammad Asad, the Austrian convert to Islam). What more can we expect from leaders who have never been properly schooled?

Toheed Ahmad

Lahore