AFP/Islamabad
Pakistan’s prime minister will travel to Saudi Arabia to discuss the war in Yemen, his office said yesterday, after the Saudi-led military coalition announced an end to air strikes against rebels.
A statement from Nawaz Sharif’s office said he would make a one-day trip to Riyadh today, and welcomed the Saudi announcement of the end of the air attacks in Yemen.
Sharif will be joined by the country’s powerful army chief Raheel Sharif, defence minister Khawaja Asif and other senior officials.
The Pakistan premier will hold talks with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz during his visit, the Daily Times reported.
Pakistan has remained ostensibly neutral in the conflict which has pitted the forces of deposed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi against Houthi Shia rebels, whom Riyadh says are backed by Iran.
Sharif’s trip is seen by some analysts as intended to pacify the Saudi royal family, with whom he has close personal ties after they sheltered him during his years in exile.
Sharif’s visit comes in the backdrop of Pakistani parliament unanimously approving a resolution calling for maintaining neutrality during the conflict in Yemen.
The unanimous resolution was passed on April 10 after a week-long debate during a joint parliamentary session, which also vowed that Pakistan would come to Saudi Arabia’s defence if the country’s sovereignty or territorial integrity was threatened.
Saudi Arabia had asked Pakistan for military assistance, including ground troops, fighter jets and navy vessels to join the coalition forces in the Yemen operation.
On April 15, a high-level Pakistani delegation held talks with Saudi leaders, including Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman Abdulaziz.
The delegation was headed by Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif and also included Prime Minister’s Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry.
Both sides discussed bilateral relations and the regional situation with special reference to the Yemen crisis.
The visit by the Pakistani delegation came hours after US Secretary of State John Kerry telephoned Nawaz Sharif and exchanged views on Yemen crisis.
The US placed two top figures in Yemen’s Houthi rebellion – Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi, and Ahmed Ali Saleh, the son of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh – on its sanctions blacklist while the UN Security Council has approved an arms embargo on the group.
Nawaz Sharif
