Pakistan PM’s aide praises Makkah summits, Saudi King

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s close aide and ruling party lawmaker Sen. Faisal Javed on Monday praised the Makkah summit which saw Arab and Muslim leaders meet and discuss cooperation and mutual challenges.
He also stressed on the strength of the relationship with the kingdom after some social media accounts pointed out a lack of coordination during the translation process. He also stressed on the strength of the relation between the premier and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz on the eve of the 14th two-day Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Makkah.
“The prime minister exchanged greetings with King Salman and listened to him as well through the translator,” said Javed, who is also the chairman of Pakistan’s Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting.
He said that the prime minister “enjoys an excellent relationship with the Saudi royal” and there was no question of disrespecting the king.
“Pakistan’s bilateral relationship with Saudi Arabia has improved tremendously under the leadership of Imran Khan,” he said. “The social media criticism is just the opposition’s propaganda as they are trying to play down the prime minister’s brilliant speech at the OIC summit.”
Javed said that the prime minister also held a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the summit and “thanked him for extending financial support to Pakistan at this difficult juncture.”
“Let me make it clear that the Pakistani people and Prime Minister Imran Khan will continue to stand with Saudi Arabia, and we are ready to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom,” he said. “This social media criticism is nothing but baseless propaganda by some nefarious elements, which can never succeed.”