Saudi minister to visit Pak after Khan skips Malaysia meet

PRINCE FAISAL’S VISIT APPEARS TO BE A DAMAGE CONTROL EXERCISE AFTER REPORTS SAID SAUDIS FORCED KHAN TO PULL OUT OF THE SUMMIT.

ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister Prince Faisal is expected to visit Pakistan on Thursday in a bid to clear its name after media reports suggested that the Saudis threatened the Imran Khan government with serious repercussions if he attended an Islamic summit being hosted by Malaysia.

Pakistan announced it would not attend the meeting at the 11th hour following what the Turkish president termed were Saudi threats.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had accepted Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s invitation to the summit which was held from December 18 to 21 to offer “an international platform for Muslim leaders, intellectuals and scholars…to discuss, exchange ideas about the issues revolving in the Muslim world.”

However, Pakistan suddenly pulled out after Khan’s visit to Riyadh. A Turkish newspaper later quoted President Recep Tayyib Erdogan as saying that Pakistan was pressured to stay away from the meeting in which leaders of Malaysia, Turkey, Iran and Qatar participated.

Erdogan said that Saudi Arabia threatened Pakistan to withdraw its financial assistance as well as to expel millions of its workers if it attended the gathering in Malaysia.

MARYAM TO STAY IN EXIT CONTROL LIST

Pakistan’s cabinet has decided not to allow opposition politician Maryam Nawaz permission to fly abroad on grounds that her name is on the exit control list of the interior ministry. The government’s chief spokesperson Firdous Ashiq Awan told the media that already a number of party leaders from Nawaz Sharif’s party were abroad.

Awan said a total of 24 cases were brought before the cabinet through an interior ministry summary. Out of these, it was decided to add four names to the ECL, remove eight names from the list, and the request to remove Maryam from it was rejected.