Islamabad: Blame game erupted between the government and opposition leaders in Pakistan after the visit of Saudi Crown Muhammad Bin Salman was postponed on Saturday.
Federal Minister for Interior Khawaja Asif took a jibe at Imran Khan, blaming him for the postponement of the Crown Prince’s visit. “Imran Khan had cancelled the visit of the Chinese president [seven] years ago during the first sit-in,” Khawja tweeted.
‘Now the visit of the Crown Prince and the Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia has been postponed due to the announcement of the sit-in on 21 November,’ he added.
Khawaja Asif said that this person [Imran Khan] was working on an agenda against the country.
عمران خان نے پہلے دھرنے پہ7 سال قبل چینی صدر کا دورہ کینسل کروایا تھااب21 نومبر والے دھرنے کے اعلان سےسعودی عرب کے ولیعہد اور وزیراعظم کا دورہ ملتوی.IK سواۓ اپنے مفادات کے علاوہ کوئ سوچ نہیں رکھتا.ملک و قوم کے مفادات کے کوئی معنی نہیں.یہ شخص ملک کیخلاف ایجنڈا پہ کام کر رہا ھے
— Khawaja M. Asif (@KhawajaMAsif) November 12, 2022
Responding to the statement of Asif, senior PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said that not just Pakistan, the Crown Prince cancelled his visit to Asia.
“The first thing is that this is an important minister of Pakistan and his moral condition is that he has no problem with lying,” Fawad said in response to Asif’s tweet.
In a follow-up tweet, Fawad claimed that analysts of other countries are giving feedback to their rulers that the relationship with the current rulers will be an expression of indifference to the people of Pakistan.
دوسری حقیقت یہ ہے کہ دوسرے ممالک کے تجزیہ کار اپنے حکمرانوں کو رائے دے رہے ہیں اور ان کا تجزیہ یہ ہے کہ موجودہ حکمرانوں سے تعلق پاکستان کے عوام سے لاتعلقی کا اظہار ہو گا لہذاٰ کوئ بھی ملک جسے پاکستان سے لانگ ٹرم تعلقات میں دلچسپی ہے وہ موجودہ حکمرانوں سے فاصلہ رکھے گا
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) November 13, 2022
“Any country that is interested in long-term relations with Pakistan will keep [its] distance from the present rulers,” he added.
Separately, PPP stalwart Senator Farhatullah Babar tweeted: “Postponement of [the] visit of Saudi Crown Prince is a moment of reflection. Are there parallels with the postponement of President Xi’s scheduled visit to Pakistan in 2014?”
Postponement of visit of Saudi Crown Prince is a moment of reflection. Are there parallels with the postponement of President Xi scheduled visit to Pakistan in 2014?
— Farhatullah Babar (@FarhatullahB) November 13, 2022
Crown Prince MBS was due to visit Pakistan on November 21, on a two-day visit but the visit was not officially announced by either Riyadh or Islamabad.
However, diplomats had not contradicted the reports on MBS’ visit to Pakistan in the media. Even, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, after his recent meeting with Crown Prince MBS, had remarked that he was looking forward to the monarch’s visit.
