PM, COAS to visit Riyadh tomorrow

ISLAMABAD: The Prime Minster, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa will visit to Saudi capital Riyadh tomorrow (Saturday) on a day-long trip.

Highly placed sources told The News here on Thursday that the two leaders will witness exercises of the 34-country Islamic Military Alliance (IMA) headquartered in the KSA capital besides having an important meeting with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdul Aziz and Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman. The entourage of the Prime Minster will be finalised today (Friday). The IMA is commanded by Pakistan’s former Army Chief, General (retd) Raheel Sharif who has returned to Riyadh from Pakistan last week. He was in Lahore for the wedding ceremony of his son Umar.

The sources said that the visiting leaders from Pakistan will have their lunch with the Saudi King in Riyadh. Prime Minister Abbasi and General Bajwa are visiting Saudi Arabia for the first time after Pakistan dispatched troops to the Kingdom for training of the Saudi forces two months ago. The exercises and the visit by Pakistan’s civil and military leaders has added significance in the wake of recent missile attacks from Yemen’s Hothi rebels.

The sources point out that the Saudi Arabia has extremely close ties with the United States and the western countries. Riyadh’s tensions with Tehran have mounted for yet another time in the wake of the Yemen missile attacks. Prime Minister Shahid Abbasi and General Bajwa will discuss regional situation with special reference to the developments in the neighbourhood. The situation in Syria will also come up for deliberations in their meetings.

The visiting leaders from Pakistan will brief the host leaders about the South Asian situation in the backdrop of the Indian atrocities in the Indian Held Kashmir. Interestingly, Saudi Arabia has recently shown interest in China Pakistan Economic Corridor. Prime Minister Abbasi will be visiting Saudi Arabia for fourth time since he assumed the office in August last year. The sources pointed out that Prime Minster and Army Chief will return Islamabad on Sunday.