Saudis made no demand for Pak security staff: Pervaiz

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pervaiz Rashid Sunday dismissed the impression that the Saudi government had asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to provide Pakistani security personnel for defence purposes in the royal kingdom.
Talking to The News, he said that King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz invited Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for a state visit after ascending the throne due to his close contact with the royal family as well as brotherly relations between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif believes in close brotherly relations with all the Muslim countries. His recent visit to Saudi Arabia was a part of this policy that would also help improve ties among the Muslim world,” he said.
He added that different people talked differently due to which some kind of confusion and misunderstanding penetrated into minds of the people, “The prime minister and the Saudi king have not discussed provision of security personnel to the kingdom or any such thing during their recent talks.”
To a question, he categorically stated that those who talked about sectarian issues with regard to mutual ties between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were enemies of both Pakistan and the Muslim world.
“We want to see the Muslim world united due to which Pakistan gives equal regard to all the Muslim countries. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held extensive talks with leaders of the Muslim countries like Turkey and Afghanistan and tried to develop consensus over regional and global issues,” he said.
The minister also pointed out ill intentions of anti-Pakistan and anti-Muslim quarters that had been constantly giving the false impression and trying to make people think that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia were going to have some kind of a nuclear deal.
He said, “Whatever we will do, it will be done in line with wishes of the people and progress and prosperity of Pakistan and the Muslim world as well. We will not hide anything from the people who have elected us and given us the mandate to serve them in a befitting fashion.”