ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif along with Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif will leave for Saudi Arabia and Iran tomorrow (Monday) to help defuse tension between the two brotherly Islamic states.
The decision was taken after in-depth consultations by the prime minister keeping in view the cordial relations of Islamabad with both Tehran and Riyadh, an official in the government said.
The ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia, which were already under strain over the Syrian crisis, further spun into disarray after the execution of Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia weeks ago.
Following the strong protest by Iran over the execution of Shia leader and attack on Saudi Embassy in Tehran by a mob, the diplomatic relations between the two countries were cut off while Bahrain had also severed diplomatic relations with Iran with other Gulf states condemning the attack on Saudi Embassy in Tehran.
Having close relations with both these countries Pakistan could not remain oblivious of these developments and there was lot of pressure on the government to come up with some clear-cut policy on it with majority of voices coming from political parties asking the government to play the role of a mediator and help resolve the dispute between the two states by using its good offices, a senior PML-N leader said.
After a series of meetings held with prime minister in the chair and taking in view the reflections of the political parties, it was finally decided by the government to play some role in defusing this tension, sources in the government informed.
These sources said that the prime minister along with Army Chief General Raheel Sharif, his adviser on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz, Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatimi and other officials will pay a daylong visit to Saudi Arabia to meet Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz.
The delegation will also meet other high officials in the Saudi government to discuss the developments in Middle East in the backdrop of crisis in Syria and the ways and means to normalise Saudi relations with Iran.
Later the delegation would fly to Tehran to meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and other high-ranking officials to look for some way forward in Saudi-Iran standoff.
Sources in the government informed that a lot of spade work had been done in this connection and through back channels Islamabad had already made the leadership of both the countries realise the need for resolving their outstanding issues through negotiations as the tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia would only benefit the enemies of Islam.
These sources believed that the visit of Saudi foreign minister followed by its defence minister earlier this month were part of the exercise and hoped that the Pakistan’s involvement would yield positive results in helping both the Islamic states to dilute tension between them.