The ‘stable’ Gulf is gone. What comes next?

If you still harbour any illusions that the Gulf Arab countries are a stable safe haven, that illusion should have been shattered by the Israeli bombs that landed in Qatar this past week. If you are thinking “but I own property in Dubai, and that is still quite safe,” you are engaging in what might charitably be described as a coping mechanism.

The ‘stable’ Gulf Arab states are now a thing of the past, and while this may sound like an overreaction to what is, for now, an isolated air strike, it represents something much bigger: the collapse of the order that has underpinned the security that made Pakistanis launder their money out to Dubai, buy property there, and seek any kind of residence visa there. And over the long run, it will also mean a diminished opportunity for Pakistani labour to work there, which will eventually hit the country’s largest source of remittances.

In this story, we will lay out to you why the stability of the Gulf was an American gift that has been withdrawn likely permanently, why the Gulf Arab states – and therefore Pakistani people and assets there – are now vulnerable, and how this could negatively impact Pakistan. We then try to lay some possibilities of what the future could hold for the region, and for its relationships with Pakistan.