Pakistan denies reports Saudi plane recalled by PM Khan

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government on Sunday rubbished a report published in a weekly magazine that had said the special plane given by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to facilitate Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to the US last month for the UN General Assembly session, was called back by Khan from Canada to New York.
“It is totally false and absolutely carries no truth whatsoever,” a government spokesman said in a statement, and added that the magazine had also published a “baseless” report of the Prime Minister’s meetings with the leaders of Turkey and Malaysia in New York, in an attempt to sabotage Pakistan’s core national interests of brotherly relations with Saudi Arabia for “petty political gains.”
“The desperation of the opposition is evident by their attempt to sabotage brotherly relations enjoyed by the two Islamic countries,” the statement said.
Earlier, it was reported in local media that the Prime Minister had been unable to return from New York to Pakistan on the scheduled day after the plane carrying him and his delegation was forced to turn around near Canada and land back in New York due to a technical issue.
Khan was on his way back to Pakistan after concluding a week-long visit to the US where he claimed at the UNGA that a “bloodbath” was brewing in Indian-administered Kashmir. The Prime Minister had stopped over in Saudi Arabia on his way to the UNGA session, where Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman had offered a special plane for his journey ahead.
“The article attempts to undermine the Prime Minister’s hugely successful interaction with world leaders in New York,” the statement further said and iterated the strong, cordial ties between the leadership of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia