Pakistan is pushing for the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is traveling to India later this week for the G-20 summit.
Though the Foreign Office is tight-lipped over the possible stopover by the Saudi de facto ruler as the travels to New Delhi to attend the summit, the sources in the PM Office did not rule out the possibility.
“Nothing is official yet but there are signals that the Saudi crown prince may travel to Pakistan during his visit to India,” said a source at the Prime Minister Office.
There was no confirmation from either side as sources said there was a possibility that both the sides wanted to keep the visit under wraps till the last moment.
However, if the visit is materialised that would be only for a few hours, according to sources.
The reason Pakistan is keen that the Saudi crown prince undertakes visit to Islamabad, even for a few hours, is to avoid a possible public backlash. Many countries, particularly the big powers, have in recent years de-hyphenated Pakistan and India relationship with the exception of Gulf state that still maintain a certain balance with regard to their relations with the nuclear-armed nations.
