Saudi defence minister to visit Pak for talks on coalition

Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman will arrive here tomorrow to discuss with the Pakistani leadership details of its 34-nation military alliance to fight terrorism, days after the visit of Kingdom's foreign minister to the country.

"Saudi's deputy crown prince is expected to arrive on Sunday for talks on bilateral and regional security issues, including the new alliance and Saudi-Iran tensions," an official said.

His visit comes amid Saudi's push to get Pakistan to join its 34-nation coalition of Muslim countries to fight against terrorism and the Saudi-Iran tensions following the execution of leading Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr along with 46 others, garnering condemnation from Shias across the region.

The Saudi defence minister is coming to discuss the "finer details" of the coalition. He is expected to meet his Pakistani counterpart Khwaja Asif along with the army chief Gen Raheel Sharif and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, a government official was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune.

"We welcome the Saudi initiative in line with our policy to support all regional and international efforts to counter terrorism and extremism," the official said.

Despite a feeble welcome to the idea and hesitated readiness to join it, Pakistan has shown weariness for the alliance which would bind its troops to become part of military operations out of Pakistan, observers say.

Saudi Arabia on the other hand is not willing to let Pakistan sidestep the offer as it is the sole Muslim nation with nuclear weapons and has a highly professional military force, they say.

Mohammed is arriving just four days after Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al Jubeir visited Pakistan and held wide ranging talks with Prime Minister Sharif, Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and the army chief.

Pakistan says it agrees with the Saudi initiative to fight terror as it is also part of Islamabad's policy to oppose militancy in its all forms and manifestation. But the problem is due to another part of Pakistan's defence policy which is against deploying its troops for combat roles outside the country without approval by the UN.

Last year, Islamabad had refused to join another Saudi initiative to launch airstrikes against Yemen.

The second issue is Pakistan's close ties with Iran which is not part of the 34-nation alliance. Internal pressure is mounting on Pakistan not to take sides by joining the alliance.

Pakistan's Shia-Sunni fault-line is sharp and yesterday supporters of Iran and Saudi Arabia held separate protests in support of the two countries.