ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has rejected rumors of growing tensions in its ties with Saudi Arabia and said the Arab nation was a “key ally” with whom Pakistan had “no differences.”
The PM’s remarks in a television interview come on the heels of a visit by the Pakistani army chief to Riyadh this week.
Earlier this month, foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi sparked controversy with statements over the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) being lukewarm on Pakistan’s territorial dispute with archrival India over Kashmir.
“Saudi Arabia is our key ally. Saudi Arabia has helped us in every difficult moment and even this time, they [helped us] in the most difficult possible time,” he said, referring to 2018 when Saudi Arabia offered Pakistan $3 billion in foreign currency support and a further loan worth up to $3 billion in deferred payments for oil imports to help stave off a current account crisis.
“These rumors you hear that our ties have gone bad with the Saudis, they are absolutely false,” the prime minister said in an interview to a local news channel. “Our ties with the Saudis are great, we are constantly in touch with the Saudis.”
Commenting on the foreign minister’s comments that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation was dragging its feet on the Kashmir issue, the PM said:
“They have their own foreign policy, they are their own countries, they have to make their own decisions. Pakistan has its own point of view.”
He added: “Saudis have their own foreign policy. We can’t think that because we want something, Saudis should also do it.”
Pakistan has long demanded that the OIC convene a high-level foreign minister’s meeting to highlight alleged rights violations in the part of Kashmir controlled by India. But the forum has only held low-level meetings so far.
Commenting on a recent normalization deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, the PM said Pakistan’s stance was “very clear.”
“We will never recognize Israel until Palestinians don’t get their rights,” he said, “they don’t get a just settlement.”
Saudi Arabia is a 'key ally,' no differences with Pakistan — PM Khan
https://arab.news/r6drg
Saudi Arabia is a 'key ally,' no differences with Pakistan — PM Khan
- OIC countries entitled to their own foreign policy and Pakistan its own point of view, prime minister says in TV interview
- Reiterates Pakistan’s ‘very clear’ stance on Israel, will never recognize Israel until Palestinians get “just settlement”
IMF hails Pakistan privatization drive, calls PIA sale a ‘milestone’
- Fund backs sale of national airline as key step in divesting loss-making state firms
- IMF has long urged Islamabad to reduce fiscal burden posed by state-owned entities
KARACHI: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Saturday welcomed Pakistan’s privatization efforts, describing the sale of the country’s national airline to a private consortium last month as a milestone that could help advance the divestment of loss-making state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
The comments follow the government’s sale of a 75 percent stake in Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to a consortium led by the Arif Habib Group for Rs 135 billion ($486 million) after several rounds of bidding in a competitive process, marking Islamabad’s second attempt to privatize the carrier after a failed effort a year earlier.
Between the two privatization attempts, PIA resumed flight operations to several international destinations after aviation authorities in the European Union and Britain lifted restrictions nearly five years after the airline was grounded following a deadly Airbus A320 crash in Karachi in 2020 that killed 97 people.
“We welcome the authorities’ privatization efforts and the completion of the PIA privatization process, which was a commitment under the EFF,” Mahir Binici, the IMF’s resident representative in Pakistan, said in response to an Arab News query, referring to the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility.
“This privatization represents a milestone within the authorities’ reform agenda, aimed at decreasing governmental involvement in commercial sectors and attracting investments to promote economic growth in Pakistan,” he added.
The IMF has long urged Islamabad to reduce the fiscal burden posed by loss-making state firms, which have weighed public finances for years and required repeated government bailouts. Beyond PIA, the government has signaled plans to restructure or sell stakes in additional SOEs as part of broader reforms under the IMF program.
Privatization also remains politically sensitive in Pakistan, with critics warning of job losses and concerns over national assets, while supporters argue private sector management could improve efficiency and service delivery in chronically underperforming entities.
Pakistan’s Cabinet Committee on State-Owned Enterprises said on Friday that SOEs recorded a net loss of Rs 122.9 billion ($442 million) in the 2024–25 fiscal year, compared with a net loss of Rs 30.6 billion ($110 million) in the previous year.
