ISLAMABAD - The foreign office said yesterday there is no rift between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, amid reported misunderstandings, and both the sides had historic friendly and brotherly ties.
“There is no rift. We have the same ties. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have always enjoyed unique relations, deep rooted in religion, culture and social ties,” Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said while speaking at a weekly news briefing here. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan's remarks on the subject in his recent media engagement and Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa's just concluded visit to Saudi Arabia testify to the “unchanged fraternal relations and close contact between the two brotherly countries.“
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, he said, had strong economic, political, security and military cooperation at all levels.
He said that the visit by Prime Minister Imran Khan and the landmark visit of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last year had further cemented our relations and provided new avenues of cooperation in trade, investment and other fields.
Pakistan, he said, valued Saudi Arabia's important role in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir.
To another question, he said that the OIC Contact Group has held four meetings on the Kashmir issue since India's unilateral and illegal actions on August 5 last year.
He said the OIC has been condemning the Indian human rights violations in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and also calling for resolution of the dispute under the UN resolutions.
Asked about the agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel for normalization of relations, Chaudhri said there was no change in Pakistan's principled position on Palestine.
He said Pakistan has abiding commitment to full realization of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to self-determination for a just, comprehensive and long-lasting peace.
He said that Pakistan has consistently supported a two state solution in accordance with the UNSC and OIC resolutions as well as international law with pre-1967 borders and with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as the capital of Palestine.
Chaudhri said, Pakistan's approach will be guided by “our evaluation of how Palestinians' rights and aspirations are upheld and how regional, peace and security and stability are preserved.”
On the ceasefire violations by India along the Line of Control, he said India had committed 2,027 ceasefire violations along the LoC this year, martyring 16 civilians and injuring 176 others. He said India, by committing ceasefire violations, is trying to divert world attention from Kashmir issue.
The spokesperson said a senior Indian diplomat was summoned to Foreign Office as well to register Pakistan's protest over provoked ceasefire violations along the LoC.
To a question about Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, the Spokesperson said India is not cooperating with the Pakistani courts.