ISLAMABAD: Pakistan eagerly awaits the arrival of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who is set to arrive in Islamabad today on a two-day official visit to Pakistan upon the invitation of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The crown prince will be accompanied by a high-powered delegation, including members of the Saudi royal family, key ministers and leading businessmen.
This will be the first official visit of the dignitary to Pakistan since his elevation to the position of crown prince in April 2017. During his visit, he will meet President Dr. Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa. A delegation of Pakistan’s Senate will also call on the crown prince and discuss ways to enhance parliamentary cooperation between the two countries.
During his stay, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan will sign a number of agreements and MoUs in diverse sectors including investment, finance, power, renewable energy, internal security, media, culture and sports. The two countries will also discuss ways and means to develop a robust follow-up mechanism to ensure effective implementation and quick progress on tangible areas of cooperation.
The Saudi ministers accompanying the crown prince will meet their counterparts to discuss bilateral cooperation in their respective fields.
Meanwhile, elaborate arrangements have been made in the federal capital to accord a rousing and unprecedentedly warm welcome to crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and his entourage upon their arrival into Pakistan.
Minister of Information Fawad Chaudhry told reporters in Islamabad on Friday that the government has finalized arrangements to welcome the crown prince and that Prime Minister Imran Khan would personally receive him at Nur Khan Airbase.
“A fleet of Pakistan Air Force jets would escort his airplanes as they enter the country’s airspace. The crown prince would be given a 21 gun salute at the airport,” Pakistan’s state run news agency APP quoted Chaudhry.
Big portraits of the crown prince, Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz, Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Arif Alvi have been erected on Constitution Avenue in Islamabad. Banners and posters inscribed with slogans of Pak-Saudi friendship and fraternity have also been put on display along the roads.
Pakistan’s top government and opposition party officials have also released warm welcome messages for the Saudi crown prince.
Opposition leader in the National Assembly and President of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Shehbaz Sharif, who has longstanding ties with the Saudi royal family, welcomed the crown prince’s visit on twitter.
In a tweet released by his official party page, Sharif said that the economic relationship between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia was in the interests of both the countries and of the Muslim Ummah.
In a statement, former President Asif Ali Zardari of the Pakistan People’s Party [PPP] said the party and the Bhutto family welcomed the prince’s visit and expressed hope for further improvement in bilateral relations, calling Saudi Arabia, “a very creditable and respectable friend of our country and its people.”
“Saudi Arabia has always stood by Pakistan in moments of need and will hopefully continue to do so,” he said.
Saudi Crown Prince arrives in Islamabad today
Saudi Crown Prince arrives in Islamabad today
- He will be accompanied by a high-powered delegation, including members of the Saudi royal family
- Elaborate arrangements have been made in the federal capital to accord an unprecedentedly warm welcome
Pakistan’s Sindh orders inquiry after clashes at Imran Khan party rally in Karachi
- Khan’s PTI party accuses police of shelling to disperse its protesters, placing hurdles to hinder rally in Karachi
- Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah vows all those found guilty in the inquiry will be punished
ISLAMABAD: The government in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province has ordered an inquiry into clashes that took place between police and supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in Karachi on Sunday, as it held a rally to demand his release from prison.
The provincial government had granted PTI permission to hold a public gathering at Karachi’s Bagh-i-Jinnah Park and had also welcomed Sohail Afridi, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where Khan’s party is in power, when he arrived in the city last week. However, the PTI cited a delay in receiving a permit and announced a last-minute change to a gate of Mazar-i-Quaid, the mausoleum of the nation’s founder.
Despite the change, PTI supporters congregated at the originally advertised venue. PTI officials claimed the party faced obstacles in reaching the venue and that its supporters were met with police intervention. Footage of police officers arresting Khan supporters in Karachi were shared widely on social media platforms.
“A complete inquiry is being held and whoever is found guilty in this, he will be punished,” Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah said while speaking to a local news channel on Sunday.
Shah said the PTI had sought permission to hold its rally at Bagh-i-Jinnah in Karachi from the Sindh government, even though the venue’s administration falls under the federal government’s jurisdiction.
He said problems arose when the no objection certificate to hold the rally was delayed for a few hours and the party announced it would hold the rally “on the road.”
The rally took place amid rising tensions between the PTI and Pakistan’s military and government. Khan, who remains in jail on a slew of charges he says are politically motivated since August 2023, blames the military and the government for colluding to keep him away from power by rigging the 2024 general election and implicating him in false cases. Both deny his allegations.
Since Khan was ousted in a parliamentary vote in April 2022, the PTI has complained of a widespread state crackdown, while Khan and his senior party colleagues have been embroiled in dozens of legal cases.
