Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited Saudi Arabia on Monday (January 18) ahead of a trip to Iran.
Sharif met Saudi King Salman and other Saudi officials in a bid to bridge the growing divide between Saudi Arabia Iran after the Sunni kingdom’s execution of a Shi’ite cleric sparked a bitter row.
The Pakistani government has sought to avoid taking sides the escalating dispute between Saudi Arabia and its main rival Iran as it wrestles with its own sectarian tensions at home and works to bolster economic ties with both countries.
A statement from Islambad said Sharif has called for a resolution “in the larger interest of Muslim unity”.
Saudi Arabia’s execution of a prominent Shi’ite cleric earlier this month was followed by Iranian demonstrators ransacking the Saudi embassy in Tehran, prompting several of Riyadh’s Sunni allies to break off diplomatic ties with Iran.
Sunni majority Pakistan maintains deep links with the establishment in Riyadh, which provided Sharif with political asylum in the 2000s after he was ousted in a military coup.
Sharif’s trip to Saudi Arabia follows the visit of both the Saudi foreign minister and deputy crown prince to Islamabad last week, underlining the closeness of the relationship between the two states.
But with a large Shi’ite minority, Pakistan has a lot to lose from rising sectarian tensions.
Last year Pakistan declined a Saudi call to join a Riyadh-led military intervention in Yemen to fight Iranian-allied insurgents.
Islamabad also wants to finish a major gas pipeline to Iran on its western border. (Reuters)