Islamabad: A statement by Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi now seems to be heavy for the Imran government. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman refused to meet with Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, who arrived in Riyadh to persuade Saudi Arabia. Not only this, but the program organized in honor of Bajwa in Riyadh was also canceled, after which he had to return empty-handed.
According to Khaleej Times, Bajwa asked for time to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman several times, but was refused on his behalf saying he was busy. The Saudi Crown Prince bluntly refused to meet the Pakistan Army Chief. The tussle between the two countries can be traced to the fact that Saudi had announced a program to honor General Bajwa. On Monday, Riyadh administration canceled the event at the last moment.
Pakistan is luring Saudi with military help
General Bajwa met Fayyad bin Hamid al-Ruwaili, the army chief of Saudi Arabia, after not meeting the Crown Prince. However, this too proved to be a courtesy visit and apart from military cooperation, no other issues could be discussed. During this time, Bajwa also expressed his desire to provide more military help to Saudi Arabia. Actually Saudi Arabia is angry about the statements of Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. Qureshi publicly condemned Saudi Arabia’s stand on the Kashmir issue. He also announced to call a lonely meeting on Kashmir, threatening Saudi. This led Saudi to cancel the $ 6.2 billion financial deal to Pakistan and also stopped lending oil-gas.
Opposition of Quraysh in Pakistan, chair may go
On the other hand, after the tough stance of Saudi, even in Pakistan, the threat has started looming in his chair regarding Qureshi’s statement. Pakistan’s foreign ministry clarified Qureshi’s statement, saying that his statement shows his trust in the IOC and Saudi Arabia. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Aisha Farooqui said that Pakistan expects more activism from the IOC in the Kashmir case. He further said that Pakistan is only seeking the cooperation of Saudi and other countries to raise this issue in international forums.
Let me tell you that Qureshi had said that Saudi is not allowing the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) to stand against India on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. Qureshi had said that the OIC should stop Hailahwali in calling a meeting of its Council of Foreign Ministers on Kashmir. Since the removal of Article 370 from Kashmir, Pakistan has been continuously pressurizing Saudi Arabia to call a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of OIC, an organization of 57 Muslim countries.
