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Pakistan bid to mend fences between Saudi and Iran

Sharif, army chief to visit both countries tomorrow.

Islamabad: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif will undertake a hurricane trip to Saudi Arabia and Iran from Monday to reduce tension between the two countries.
Sources at the prime minister house said that Sharif will have meetings with the Custodian of the two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, and Iranian President Hassan Rohani during his emergency visit.
The Pakistan premier will be accompanied by army Gen. Raheel Sharif. Both will hold meetings with political and military leadership in the two countries. Media reports said the army chief and the premier will spend a day each in Riyadh and Tehran.
Officials said the prime minister has taken the initiative ostensible after receiving encouraging response from both capitals.
Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and Special Assistant Tariq Fatmi will accompany Shairf.
Saudi Arabia and Bahrain cut ties with Iran, a few days after Iranian demonstrators stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran in protest at Riyadh's execution of Sheikh Nimr.
Saudi Defence Minister Mohammad bin Salman had also visited Islamabad during which Gen. Raheel had assured him of a "strong response" to threats to the kingdom's territorial integrity. Pakistan this week offered its "good offices" to defuse tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran even as it supported the Saudi initiative to establish a coalition of like-minded Islamic states to counter terrorism and extremism.
Saudi Arabia and Iran are at a tense standoff following a prominent Shia cleric's execution by the former on January 2.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif's upcoming visit to Iran has been cancelled, the daily Dawn said quoting a source. Asif was scheduled to travel to Tehran on a two-day visit from Monday for promoting defence ties between the two countries.
According to the source, Sharif directed the cancellation of the trip. A defence ministry official, talking to Dawn, confirmed that the trip had been cancelled. But the official did not assign any reason for the decision.
news@khaleejtimes.com
(with inputs from agencies)