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Agencies

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in Pakistan on Sunday for the start of his tour of South Asia and China.
But the visit risks being overshadowed by escalating tensions between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan.
The trip came days after a suicide bomber killed 44 Indian paramilitary police in the disputed Kashmir region.
New Delhi has accused Pakistan of having a hand in the bombing and vowed to punish Islamabad, which denies involvement.

Cash-strapped and in need of friends, Pakistan is welcoming the crown prince with open arms for a visit in which he is expected to sign investment agreements worth more than US$10 billion.
Saudi Arabia has in recent months helped keep Pakistan’s economy afloat by propping up its rapidly dwindling foreign exchange reserves with a US$6 billion loan, giving Islamabad breathing room as it negotiates a bailout with the International Monetary Fund.
Analysts say the crown prince’s trip is being treated by Islamabad as the biggest state visit since President Xi Jinping in 2015, soon after Beijing announced plans to invest tens of billions of dollars on infrastructure in Pakistan as part of China’s global Belt and Road Initiative.

The visit marks a deepening in ties between allies whose relationship has in the past centred on oil-rich Saudi Arabia backing Pakistan’s economy during difficult periods, and in return Pakistan’s powerful army lending support to Saudi Arabia and its royal family.
As the guardians of most holy sites in the birthplace of Islam, the Saudi royal family carries vast religious clout in Pakistan, a staunchly conservative and mainly-Muslim nation of 208 million people.
Pakistan secures further US$2b in funding from China to ‘avoid economic crisis’
“What is happening in this relationship is a renewal of Pakistan’s commitment to help protect the royal family and the order as it exists in Saudi Arabia,” said Mosharraf Zaidi, senior fellow at Tabadlab, a Pakistani think tank focused on global and local public policy.
“On the flip side, there is reassurance that Saudi Arabia will not only continue to serve as a strategic friend who will help shore up Pakistan’s finances when needed, but it’s also going to become a participant in the wider investment in Pakistan.”

Pakistan was shutting down its airspace and stepped up security in Islamabad for the crown prince, who will be the first guest to stay at the prime minister’s house.
Pakistan’s premier Imran Khan has refused to use the residence in a bid to save taxpayers’ money.
Pakistani hopes for further investment opportunities from Saudi Arabia were dealt a blow on Saturday when the government announced the Pak-Saudi Business Conference had been “postponed”.
Pakistani officials have said Saudi Arabia will announce eight investment agreements, including a US$10 billion refinery and petrochemicals complex in the coastal city of Gwadar, where China is building a port.

But the crown prince’s arrival followed a vow by India to isolate Pakistan internationally over the deadliest attack in Kashmir in decades.
New Delhi is demanding Islamabad act against the Jaish e-Mohammad (JeM) militant group, which it says has the backing of the Pakistani state, over the bombing.
Islamabad denies playing a role and has called for an investigation.
After Pakistan, Mohammed will travel to India, where he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
He is expected to finish the trip in China on Thursday and Friday.
Two short stops initially scheduled for Sunday and Monday in Indonesia and Malaysia were postponed on Saturday without explanation.
The Asia trip comes five months after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a fierce critic of the crown prince, at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul ignited a diplomatic crisis.
Riyadh initially denied the murder, then gave several conflicting accounts of Khashoggi’s death, and now claims he was killed in an unauthorised operation to forcibly return him to Saudi Arabia.
The Asia tour – the largest outing on the international scene for the crown prince since the G20 summit in Argentina in December – is a timely demonstration to the West that he still has friends in rising Asia.

He “wants to demonstrate that he is not an international pariah”, said James M. Dorsey, a researcher at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
It is a matter of proving he still has “international access and he can function … as the most senior representative of Saudi Arabia beyond the king”.
Reuters, Agence France-Presse


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Pakistan

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Pakistan for start of shortened Asia tour

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan (right) greets Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (left) upon his arrival at the military Nur Khan Air Force base in Islamabad. Photo: Handout via AP

FILE PHOTO: A general view of Gwadar port in Gwadar, Pakistan October 4, 2017. REUTERS/Drazen Jorgic/File Photo

(150421) -- ISLAMABAD, April 21, 2015 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping, accompanied by Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, takes a carriage to meet with Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain in Islamabad, Pakistan, April 21, 2015. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang) (zhs)

epa07369309 Indian security men inspect at the site blast in Lethpora area of south Kashmir' s Pulwama district some 20 kilometers from Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, 14 February 2019. At least 18 Indian paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed in a suicide attack in Pulwama district when a militant rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the CRPF bus they were travelling in, according to local news reports. EPA-EFE/FAROOQ KHAN

In this handout photograph released by Pakistan's Press Information Department (PID) on October 23, 2018, Saudi King Salman (R) meets with Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan during a meeting in Riyadh. - Saudi Arabia on October 23 pledged $3 billion to Pakistan as it battles a balance of payment crisis and another $3 billion on deferred payment for import of oil, a statement said. (Photo by HANDOUT / PID / AFP)

FILE - In this Nov. 30, 2018 file photograph, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman adjusts his robe as leaders gather for the group at the G20 Leader's Summit at the Costa Salguero Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A military base deep inside Saudi Arabia appears to be testing and possibly manufacturing ballistic missiles, experts and satellite images suggest, potentially thrusting the kingdom into a weapons program it long has criticized its archrival Iran for possessing. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan, File)

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman suddenly postpones Malaysia and Indonesia visits

epa07373263 People hold a banner reading in Urdu 'We will not welcome Mohammad Bin Salman, killer of Journalist Jamal Khashogi and a war monger in Yemen' during a protest ahead of a visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, in Lahore, Pakistan, 15 February 2019. The crown prince of Saudi Arabia will travel this weekend to Pakistan where he is expected to announce multi-billion dollar investments to help the kingdom's traditional ally tide over financial crisis amid declining foreign exchange reserves. EPA-EFE/RAHAT DAR

A handout picture provided by the Saudi Royal Palace on February 10, 2019, shows Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (C) watching a gazelle foal run as he attends attending the launch of projects for a resort and a nature reserve at al-Ula, a UNESCO World Heritage site in the country's northwest. (Photo by Bandar AL-JALOUD / Saudi Royal Palace / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / SAUDI ROYAL PALACE / BANDAR AL-JALOUD" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, ,centre right sits next to United Arab Emirates Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed, as they attend the opening of the Future Investment Initiative conference, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018. Saudi Arabia is moving ahead with plans to hold the glitzy investment forum, despite some of its most important speakers pulling out in the global outcry over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Workers hang pictures of Pakistan President Arif Ali, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan on the eve of the prince’s visit to Islamabad, Pakistan on February 15, 2019. Photo: EPA

The ‘smoking saw’: US senators say there is ‘zero’ doubt Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman directed killing of Jamal Khashoggi

FILE PHOTO: Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi speaks at an event hosted by Middle East Monitor in London, Britain, Sept. 29, 2018. Picture taken September 29, 2018. Middle East Monitor/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. THIS IMAGE WAS PROCESSED BY REUTERS TO ENHANCE QUALITY, AN UNPROCESSED VERSION HAS BEEN PROVIDED SEPARATELY. - RC14B9F97A30/File Photo

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Bob Corker, R-Tenn., speaks to reporters after a closed-door security briefing by CIA Director Gina Haspel on the slaying of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and involvement of the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2018. Graham said there is "zero chance" the crown prince wasn't involved in Khashoggi's death. Corker said he believes if the crown prince were put on trial, a jury would find him guilty in "about 30 minutes." (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

US Senator Lindsey Graham pauses as he speaks to reporters after a closed-door security briefing by CIA Director Gina Haspel on the slaying of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and involvement of the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, at the US Capitol in Washington on Tuesday. Photo: AP

In major shift, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman says Israel has a right to its land

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud is seen during a meeting with U.N Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the United Nations headquarters in New York on March 27. Photo: Reuters

News

Asia

South Asia

Analysts say the crown prince’s trip is being treated by Islamabad as the biggest state visit since President Xi Jinping in 2015


Analysts say the crown prince’s trip is being treated by Islamabad as the biggest state visit since President Xi Jinping in 2015.


Saudi Arabia

Kashmir

Jamal Khashoggi killing

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Pakistan for start of shortened Asia tour

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Analysts say the crown prince’s trip is being treated by Islamabad as the biggest state visit since President Xi Jinping in 2015

Analysts say the crown prince’s trip is being treated by Islamabad as the biggest state visit since President Xi Jinping in 2015