“Saudi Arabia’s key economic and financial indicators are stable, as reflected by its net creditor position with a sound and resilient banking system”, it said in a statement.
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“The countries here mentioned have decided on the formation of a military alliance led by Saudi Arabia to fight terrorism, with a joint operations centre based in Riyadh to coordinate and support military operations”, the statement said.
“Bahrainis will always appreciate and be grateful to Saudi Arabia for its supportive stances towards Bahrain”, he said.
“An emergency meeting of the OIC foreign ministers has been summoned in Jeddah where Pakistan will present important proposals to reduce the Iran-Saudi tension”, he said. On the ground troops, he quoted Aziz as having said that “troops on ground, is against Pakistan’s policy…it would be inconsistent to our policy [if troops are sent anywhere abroad], apart from United Nations peacekeeping mission, Pakistan has neither sent its troops in the past nor will it send in the future”.
The Saudi defence minister’s Islamabad visit had come just three days after foreign minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir held meetings with PM Nawaz and army chief Gen Raheel Sharif to discuss Pakistan’s role in the 34-nation military alliance.
“Following the signing of the interim nuclear deal in November 2013, Saudi Arabia began devoting its resources to defeating the deal, driven by fear that its contrived Iranophobia was crumbling”.
Aziz said the Saudi coalition was not against any specific country and that was the reason Pakistan announced its participation in it. He said Pakistan had always backed any regional or worldwide effort against terrorist groups such as Islamic State or Da’ish and al Qaeda.
He also stated that Pakistan is pursuing a balanced approach and wants the two countries to defuse tensions.
In a legal letter, CAAT experts warned that a failure to halt current arms export contracts to Saudi Arabia, along with the decision to continue granting new export licenses for weapons, is unlawful, as the weapons could be used in the Saudi-led coalition’s military campaign in Yemen.
The briefing was called after opposition lawmakers demanded that they should be taken into confidence on the issue.
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All members of the committee expressed concerns over the emerging issue and hoped Pakistan’s political leadership could defuse tensions between the two “brotherly countries to avoid disunity in Muslim Ummah which will only benefit the enemies”, he added.
