Ahead of Iran visit: Saudi envoy meets President Zardari

Official statement says Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Pakistan discussed bilateral relations and regional affairs.

ISLAMABAD:

Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Aziz Ibrahim Al-Ghadeer met with President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday, a day ahead of the president’s visit to Iran.

While an official statement only said that the ambassador discussed bilateral relations and regional affairs, the timing of the visit is made significant by the fact that it comes just ahead of the president’s trip to Tehran on Saturday (today).

Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia have been strained since the 1979 Iranian revolution and have taken a turn for the worse during the recent political upheaval in the Middle East. Iran has fully supported the uprising against Bahrain’s monarch while Saudi Arabia has been concerned by the instability in its neighbourhood.

Saudi Arabia has, in the past, conveyed its concerns to Pakistan when it felt that Islamabad was drifting too close to Tehran. In recent weeks, President Zardari has quietly ignored such protests, attending an anti-terrorism summit in Tehran despite Saudi objections.

Friday’s meeting was also attended by Interior Minister Rehman Malik, who had been sent by the president to Riyadh last time where the Saudis expressed reservations about the ties between Islamabad and Tehran.



Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2011.