Desecration of Holy Quran: Saudi Arabia urges restraint
Special emissary of Prince Bandar calls on Zardari; discusses ways to curb rising incidence of religious intolerance.
ISLAMABAD:
A special emissary of the Saudi monarch, Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz al Saud, called on President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday and discussed ways and means to curb the rising incidence of religious intolerance and disharmony.
The two leaders are said to discuss the desecration of the Holy Quran in the United States.
Secretary-General to the President Salman Faruqui and Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir also attended the meeting.
Prince Bandar, who is the former secretary-general of the Saudi National Security Council and a former envoy of his country to Washington, is on a short visit to Pakistan.
Terming the visit significant, sources said: “He has come as a special emissary of King Abdullah.”
The prince is scheduled to meet Chief of the Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani today before returning home in the afternoon.
The sources said the visit by the son of Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz is of great importance in the backdrop of the political disturbance in Bahrain.
The possibility of the prince asking Pakistan for “meaningful help to meet challenges in its neighbourhood cannot be ruled out,” the sources said.
According to data obtained by The Express Tribune, there are 60,000 Pakistanis, mainly ex-servicemen, serving in that country’s defence and other security establishments.
A former diplomat told The Express Tribune that the Saudi rulers ‘are perturbed over the alarming situation in Bahrain’, which prompted them to send 1,000 of their troops to Bahrain to ‘assist the local security forces’ battling the insurgents.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 26th, 2011.
A special emissary of the Saudi monarch, Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz al Saud, called on President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday and discussed ways and means to curb the rising incidence of religious intolerance and disharmony.
The two leaders are said to discuss the desecration of the Holy Quran in the United States.
Secretary-General to the President Salman Faruqui and Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir also attended the meeting.
Prince Bandar, who is the former secretary-general of the Saudi National Security Council and a former envoy of his country to Washington, is on a short visit to Pakistan.
Terming the visit significant, sources said: “He has come as a special emissary of King Abdullah.”
The prince is scheduled to meet Chief of the Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani today before returning home in the afternoon.
The sources said the visit by the son of Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz is of great importance in the backdrop of the political disturbance in Bahrain.
The possibility of the prince asking Pakistan for “meaningful help to meet challenges in its neighbourhood cannot be ruled out,” the sources said.
According to data obtained by The Express Tribune, there are 60,000 Pakistanis, mainly ex-servicemen, serving in that country’s defence and other security establishments.
A former diplomat told The Express Tribune that the Saudi rulers ‘are perturbed over the alarming situation in Bahrain’, which prompted them to send 1,000 of their troops to Bahrain to ‘assist the local security forces’ battling the insurgents.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 26th, 2011.