ISLAMABAD: Before his planned visit to Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday made a phone call to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and strongly condemned the drone attacks on the Saudi oil processing facility and oil field.

The prime minister’s visit to Saudi Arabia was confirmed by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi during his speech at a multi-party conference on the Kashmir issue organised by the ruling PTI in Lahore.

“We have important sittings over there. Keeping those sittings at the forefront, we will have to deliberate on further measures. I think it is enough to say just this right now,” the minister reportedly said.

The prime minister will have a stopover in Saudi Arabia while travelling to the United States where he is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly next week.

An official statement issued by PM Office said that Prime Minister Imran Khan made a telephone call to Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia to strongly condemn the drone attacks on the Saudi oil processing facility and oil field that caused material damage and disruption in operation.

“Prime Minister conveyed deep concern on the attempts to disturb the existing peaceful environment in the region through such attacks,” the official statement said. It said that the PM expressed solidarity with the brotherly people of Saudi Arabia and reaffirmed Pakistan’s support to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Saudi Arabia.

The Saturday attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities has caused closure of five per cent of global crude output. The US has been blaming Iran for this attack, which was claimed by Yemen’s Houthis, while the Iranian government has denied its involvement.

According to a handout issued by the PM Office, Chinese Ambassador in Islamabad Yao Jing called on Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday.

“He conveyed the best wishes of President Xi Jinping to the Prime Minister on his forthcoming birthday. The Chinese President’s message described the traditional friendship between China and Pakistan as “rock solid” and reiterated the resolve to build a closer China-Pakistan community of shared future in the new era,” read the handout.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2019