Pak PM Imran Khan To Visit Saudi Arabia This Month: Report

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will visit Saudi Arabia later this month, his third trip to the country, a media report said on Thursday.

According to a Pakistani news channel, Mr Khan will travel to Saudi Arabia before his trip to the US to address the UN General Assembly for the first time on September 27. Mr Khan has said that he would highlight the Kashmir issue in his speech, after India ended Jammu and Kashmir's special status last month.

Earlier this month, Saudi Arabian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir met with Pakistan Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Raja Ali Ejaz in Riyadh to discuss Imran Khan's likely visit, a media report said.

The Saudi minister, along with the UAE's Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan visited Islamabad on September 4 and discussed the Kashmir issue with Prime Minister Khan and other Pakistani leaders.

The visit by the two ministers came after Prime Minister Khan telephoned Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Crown Prince of the UAE Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed and discussed Kashmir with them.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Mohammad Faisal on Thursday dismissed media reports that claimed that the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia's foreign ministers, on their recent trip to Pakistan, had told the government that Kashmir was "not a Muslim ummah related issue."

Asserting that the abrogation of Article 370 was its "internal matter", India has defended imposition of restrictions in Kashmir.

During his last visit to Saudi Arabia in June, Mr Khan represented Pakistan at the 14th Summit of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Makkah.

He also visited Saudi Arabia in September 2018 for the first time after becoming Prime Minister.