Islamabad: The much-awaited visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud to Pakistan on May 19 has been postponed, yet again.
While the Pakistan government, which has been preparing for the high-profile visit for weeks, remains tightlipped on the reasons behind its postponement, sources reveal that MBS is quite unhappy with the current situation in the country.
They revealed that the Saudi Crown Prince remains quite upset with the political developments in Pakistan, particularly with the recent statements made by some leaders which have been seen as an attempt to drag Saudi Arabia in the country’s internal matters.
Recently, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Sher Afzal Marwat blamed the ‘Saudi influence’ behind him not being considered for the Chairman’s post of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
“Shibli Faraz told Imran Khan in jail that the Saudi Ambassador does not want me to be appointed as the PAC chairman,” Marwat said while speaking to the media outside Adyala jail in Rawalpindi, where he was denied a meeting with the former Prime Minister.
Last month, Marwat claimed that Saudi Arabia was a “conduit” for the regime change operation carried out by the United States to oust Imran Khan’s government following which PTI removed him from its core and political committee and also issued a show-cause notice on trying to damage relations with Saudi Arabia.
“It is certain that Saudi Arabia is unhappy over the remarks made by Marwat that smack of domestic political point-scoring. Marwat has directly accused Saudi Arabia for meddling in Pakistan politics and the Saudis do not tolerate such behaviour,” said senior political analyst Javed Siddique while admitting that the cancellation of MBS’ visit to Pakistan is a big “setback” for the country.
On the other hand, government sources maintain that there are some points on the economic front which still need to be cleared between both parties before MBS finalises his Pakistan visit.
They maintained that Saudi investors and businessmen, who recently toured Pakistan, are interested in some projects but the terms of the agreement have not yet been finalised.
After MBS accepted Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif’s invitation to visit the country, the government has been working hard to ensure that it is not postponed yet again and eventually leads to more Saudi investment.
While the Foreign Ministry spokesperson has said that the revised schedule of the visit is still being worked out, sources say that MBS could visit Pakistan in the third week of June, shortly after the Haj and Eid-ul-Adha holidays.
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