New anti-terror drive stains Pak-Saudi ties

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have long enjoyed close relations, but Islamabad's new-found resolve for fighting the root causes of extremism has seen the Gulf state come in for rare criticism.

The two countries, both with majority Sunni Muslim populations, are bound together by shared Islamic religious ties, financial aid from oil-rich Saudi and Pakistani military assistance to the kingdom.

But a Taliban massacre at a school that killed more than 150 people in December, mostly children, has led the government to crack down on militants and talk of bringing religious seminaries under tighter control.

Now the country's media and even government ministers have begun to question whether support from Saudi Arabia for seminaries, known as madrassas, is fuelling violent extremism -- bringing tension to the relationship for the first time.

Last week the Saudi embassy issued a statement saying that all its donations to seminaries had government clearance, after a minister accused the Riyadh government of creating instability across the Muslim world.

The Pakistani foreign ministry responded by saying that funding by private individuals through "informal channels" would also be scrutinised closely to try to choke off funding for terror groups.

While the statement avoided mentioning Saudi Arabia specifically, it was widely interpreted as a rebuke.

Badar Alam, editor of Herald magazine, a respected Pakistani current affairs monthly, said the recent wave of criticism was unprecedented.

"Saudi has vast commercial and economic interests in Pakistan. There are open questions being asked on this relationship," he said.

"Before, nobody would ask any questions in any manner. Now even the Urdu press is asking questions."

Donors in Saudi Arabia have long been accused of quietly funding terror groups sympathetic to the kingdom's hardline version of Sunni Islam.

Leaked diplomatic cables by then-US secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2009 said Saudi Arabian donors were "the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide". The cable cited the Taliban, al-Qaeda and Pakistan's Sunni Muslim sectarian militants Lashkar-e-Jhangvi as examples of where funds were being channelled.

Linked to the funding is Saudi Arabia's long geostrategic struggle with Iran, the key Shia Muslim power in the region.