Pak-Saudi ties are historical: Envoy

By Waqar Naseem Wamiq

RIYADH — “The relations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are historical and time tested. Both countries are proud of their historical linkages and bonds of culture and religion which are deeply embedded in the minds and hearts of the people of the two countries. One of the manifestation of the relations is the presence of the nearly 2.7 million Pakistanis in the Kingdom who, owing to the love and hospitality of the Saudi leadership and people, consider the Kingdom as their second home.

“These workers, engineers, doctors, are contributing day and night to the development of the Kingdom and to the strengthening of the brotherly relations of the two countries,” Pakistan Ambassador Khan Hasham Bin Saddique said while speaking with at an interactive session at the Marriott Courtyard here.

Sardar Muhammad Khattak, political counselor of Embassy of Pakistan, was also present on the occasion.

Khan said, “Kashmir is under oppression of the Indian forces from many years, nearly 800,000 Indian army personals are deputed in Kashmir causing severe human rights violations. Every year we commemorate 5th of February as the Kashmir day in solidarity with our Kashmiri brothers and rejuvenate our pledge towards the freedom struggle of Kashmiri peoples. Kashmir is not just an issue of the right of their self-determination but it’s a humanitarian issue.”

“Kashmir issue in line with the UN security committee resolutions holds the key to the peace and stability in that part of the world, we as Pakistanis very much like that to happen as quickly as possible because right to freedom is the basic right of every human being,” he added.

Ambassador Khan also highlighted the great sacrifices of the brave Pakistani nation against the terrorism, “We are the highest victim of terrorism, more than 70,000 Pakistani peoples has been died over the years in the battle against terrorism including soldiers, policemen, men, women and children with all these great sacrifices and our commitment against the terrorism made us more stronger, every inch of Pakistani soil is secured and the writ of the state is implemented,” he said.

Talking about the Afghan issue, Ambassador Khan said, “Afghanistan is our neighboring country and we wants a peaceful neighborhood. A peaceful Afghanistan can bring us many positive opportunities including the connectivity to the central Asian regions. Afghan situation is not under the control of their government due to various reasons including the presence of some international players who do not wants to see the peace in the region.“

Ambassador Khan envisioned a bright future for both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, stating, “Pakistan is an emerging economic country that sustained 5% growth during the last few years, many international investors are now investing in Pakistan especially China is investing $60 billion in development programs including the main infrastructure and road development programs that will last until 2030 and that can bring prosperous future for whole of the region, so we can see a similarity between our development plans and the Saudi Vision 2030, that’s how Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are simultaneously moving forward towards their bright future.

Khan further underlined the Pak-Saudi relations and said, “We had a successful Joint economic and cultural ministerial meeting after a gap of four years. We are diversifying our relations with Saudi Arabia both in economic and cultural terms. Recently we screened the latest Pakistani movie at the Embassy and we are working closely with Saudi Arabia for the screening of our movies in Saudi cinemas with Arabic and English subtitles,” he added.