Saudi Arabia has denied reports circulating on the media that the Kingdom had pressurised Pakistan to withdraw participation from the Kuala Lumpur Summit in Malaysia.
In a press release issued by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Pakistan, it termed “the news promoted by some parties about alleged pressures exerted on Pakistan by the Kingdom to discourage it from participating in the mini-summit held in Malaysia” as “baseless and fake.”
It further stressed that “these false reports are already denied by the nature of solid brotherly relations between the two brotherly countries, and their agreement on the importance of the unity of the Islamic nation, maintaining the role of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), mutual respect for their sovereignty and the independence of their decisions, which is a key feature of the well-established historical relations between them.”
Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir had shared his plans with Pakistan for holding the summit when he met Prime Minister Imran along with Erdogan on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session in New York in September this year.
Later, PM Khan formally conveyed his acceptance of the invitation for attending the summit when Deputy Foreign Minister of Malaysia Marzuki Bin Haji Yahya called on him in Islamabad on Nov. 29.
Last week, however, reports of PM Imran cancelling his trip to Malaysia began circulating in the media. After his visit to Saudi Arabia on Saturday, the premier decided to stay away from the Kuala Lumpur summit.
According to reports, he withdrew due to pressure exerted by the kingdom, which had extended a helping hand to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government during its early days to stave off an economic crisis.
On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had confirmed that there would be no representation from Pakistan at the summit of some 20 Muslim countries, which began in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
Qureshi confirmed that Saudi Arabia and the UAE had concerns about the summit, saying the two countries were worried that the event could cause “division in Ummah” and lead to setting up of an organisation parallel to the existing Saudi-dominated OIC.
In view of the reservations about the summit, Qureshi said, it was decided that Pakistan would seek to bridge the gap between Riyadh and Kuala Lumpur and if that did not work there would be no participation in the summit.
