Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs Adel bin Ahmed al-Jubeir will Wednesday (tomorrow) arrive in Pakistan on a one-day visit, confirmed its embassy.

Reports suggest the Saudi minister will hold meetings with Prime Minister Imran Khan, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Matters related to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia’s bilateral ties and regional developments will be discussed.

Meanwhile, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported that Prime Minister Imran and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed “latest developments in the region” in a phone call.

According to SPA, the kingdom’s official news agency, the two “reviewed relations between the two countries and the latest developments in the region”.

SPA had reported that the crown prince and premier discussed the regional situation along with the ongoing situation in occupied Kashmir.

Also on Tuesday, PM Imran Khan held a telephonic conversation with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and apprised the royal on the current situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK).

The contact between Islamabad and Riyadh comes at a time when the lockdown in occupied Kashmir nears a month after India’s illegal and unilateral August 5 move.

PM Imran has made contact with MBS multiple times since then and called the Saudi crown prince last week too, after US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France.

The meeting saw Trump, more or less, backtrack on his earlier offer to mediate between Pakistan and India on Kashmir.

According to sources in the federal government, Pakistan is in contact through diplomatic and backdoor channels with a number of Islamic countries as part of its efforts to garner support on the Kashmir crisis and to force the Indian government to lift the curfew and information blockade in the occupied valley.