“Are you with us or with Qatar?” asked Saudi Arabia’s King Salman during a meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who had visited the Gulf Kingdom to find a diplomatic solution to the Qatar crisis.
The Saudi monarch asked Sharif to take a clear position on Qatar during their meeting in Jeddah on Monday, The Express Tribune reported, citing diplomatic sources. The paper said that Pakistan had reportedly told Saudi Arabia that it would not take sides in the Middle East’s diplomatic crisis after Riyadh had questioned Islamabad.
Sharif, accompanied by army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and other senior officials, travelled to Jeddah on Monday to urge the kingdom to resolve the Gulf crisis in the interest of Muslims.
Pakistan has been treading a careful path since Saudi and other Gulf countries snapped diplomatic ties with Qatar, after accusing the oil-rich country of supporting terrorist groups.
However, the report claims that Saudi Arabia wants Pakistan to side with the kingdom. Citing a senior government official, who was briefed on the talks at the monarch's palace in Jeddah, the newspaper said that Pakistan would not take sides in any event that would create divisions within the Muslim world. It said:
“Nevertheless, in order to placate Saudi Arabia, Pakistan offered to use its influence over Qatar to defuse the situation. For this purpose, the prime minister will undertake visits to Kuwait, Qatar and Turkey.”
Prime Minister Sharif's mediation visit to Saudi Arabia did not achieve any immediate breakthroughs. Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said King Salman and Sharif discussed the "latest regional developments” in addition to bilateral relations.
The current crisis in the Gulf is said to be the gravest that the Gulf Cooperation Council has faced in its nearly four decades of existence, although Qatar's relations with Saudi Arabia and some other Arab neighbours have not always been good.
(With inputs from PTI)
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