Saudi Arabia continues to press Pakistan to provide tangible support for its war in Yemen. Most Pakistanis are pushing back and criticizing the kingdom and its gulf allies in unprecedented candor.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his senior army leadership traveled to Saudi Arabia last week for another consultation on Riyadh's request for military support for the campaign against the Houthis. Sharif said after the visit that he was not confronted with a "wish list" and he reiterated Pakistan's commitment to defend the kingdom if it is attacked. But the Pakistani leadership offered no tangible military aid. The prime minister's brother, Shabaz Sharif, has also visited Saudi Arabia separately to try to reassure Gulf leaders, but he could not calm the tensions either. The Sharif government is clearly uncomfortable with saying no to its Gulf benefactors but it faces strong domestic opposition to the war.

The Pakistani parliament's unanimous decision to stay neutral in the Yemen war has been widely praised in the country. A distinguished professor of physics, Pervez Hoodbhoy, wrote an editorial this week titled "Let the Saudis Fume," praising the Sharif government for rejecting the "GCC diktat" and saying no to "an irritated septuagenarian monarch and his angry princes." The article assured Pakistanis that the Gulf Cooperation Council states can not expel Pakistani guest workers or their "petro-countries would grind to a halt."

Hoodbhoy also takes on directly the issue of Saudi-Pakistani potential nuclear collusion, usually a subject off-limits in the media. The nuclear physicist reminds Saudis there are "no other nuclear vendors in town," and that "Pakistan is the only country that can at short notice potentially provide the kingdom with nuclear weapons or a nuclear umbrella" against Iran. His conclusion is that Pakistan should never give the kingdom the bomb.