{"id":5516,"date":"2020-07-12T12:46:58","date_gmt":"2020-07-12T12:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportsnewsforyou.com\/?p=5516"},"modified":"2020-07-12T12:46:58","modified_gmt":"2020-07-12T12:46:58","slug":"saudi-arabia-to-release-2000-pakistani-prisoners-as-part-of-lavish-diplomatic-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/?p=5516","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia to release 2,000 Pakistani prisoners as part of lavish diplomatic visit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Saudi Arabia has agreed to free more than 2,000 Pakistani prisoners as the kingdom&#8217;s crown prince continued a high profile visit to its nuclear-armed ally.<\/p>\n<p>Mohammad bin Salman promised to deliver \u201cwhatever we can do\u201d for Pakistanis living in his country after a personal plea from Prime Minister Imran Khan.<\/p>\n<p>The mass amnesty followed the signing of more than $20bn of Saudi investment deals in a lavish visit which has seen Islamabad spare no expense to welcome its wealthy friend.<\/p>\n<p>The Crown Prince&#8217;s visit is seen as sealing deepening ties between the two nations at a time when Mr Khan&#8217;s government faces a painful balance of payments crisis.<\/p>\n<p>Cash injections from Riyadh and the UAE have kept Pakistan&#8217;s economy afloat in recent months and allowed Mr Khan to delay a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Crown Prince&#8217;s investment deals, including a refinery complex, offer another economic lifeline.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<noscript><\/noscript><figcaption>\nMBS, as the Crown Prince is known, has enjoyed a lavish welcome from the Pakistani state\u00a0Credit:<br \/>\nAFP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The release of Pakistani petty criminals offered Mr Khan a political gift. Millions of Pakistanis work in the Gulf and their remittances are a critical source of foreign currency for Pakistan&#8217;s economy. The fate of the thousands who are locked up across the Middle East is a sensitive issue in Pakistan, where there is a perception the prisoners are mostly poor labourers who have no legal recourse.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Khan reportedly raised the issue on Sunday night at a welcome ceremony at the Prime Minister&#8217;s official residence, making a \u201cspecial request\u201d to MBS to look into the hardships of Pakistani labourers working in the kingdom, and to \u201clook upon them as your own people\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Fawad Chaudhry, information minister, said on Monday morning: \u201cHis Royal Highness the Crown Prince of KSA Mohammad Bin Salman has ordered the immediate release of 2,107 Pakistani prisoners from Saudi jails.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistan&#8217;s foreign minister, also said the crown prince had \u201cgraciously agreed to free 2107 Pakistani prisoners in Saudi Arabia with immediate effect. Cases of the remaining will be reviewed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have long shared close ties. The wealthy Gulf kingdom has provided financial support in the past, while the Muslim world&#8217;s only nuclear power has vowed to defend Saudi Arabia and its royal family.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<noscript><\/noscript><figcaption>\nA Pakistani man looks at morning newspapers with front-page-coverage of MBS&#39; visitCredit:<br \/>\nAFP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Yet Pakistan&#8217;s biggest state visit since the one by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2015 comes as ties appear to be entering a newer, closer era. While Mr Khan&#8217;s government gets an economic boost, Riyadh boosts its oil market and plugs into the new Chinese trade network stretching across Asia.<\/p>\n<p>The Crown Prince&#8217;s international reputation has been badly tarnished after journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in the kingdom&#8217;s Istanbul consulate, though he denies any involvement. Yet Pakistan heaped honours on its guest, including a 21-gun salute, fighter jet escort, and honour guard. The Crown Prince also received the country&#8217;s highest civilian award the Nishan-e-Pakistan (Order of Pakistan).<\/p>\n<p>His Islamabad visit was the first leg of a wider Asia visit, with the prince due to arrive in Delhi on Monday evening.<\/p>\n<p>His foreign minister vowed the kingdom would try to \u201cde-escalate\u201d rising tensions between Pakistan and India after a suicide bomb attack in Indian-administered Kashmir killed 41 paramilitary policemen.<\/p>\n<p>Delhi has vowed to retaliate after the Pakistan-based Islamist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed responsibility for Thursday&#8217;s attack in the disputed territory.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur objective is to try to de-escalate tensions between the two countries, neighbouring countries, and to see if there is a path forward to resolving those differences peacefully,\u201d said Adel al-Jubeir.<\/p>\n<p>India has vowed to \u201cisolate\u201d Pakistan diplomatically in the international community, saying it has \u201cincontrovertible evidence\u201d of Islamabad&#8217;s role.<\/p>\n<p>Pakistan has rejected the allegations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Saudi Arabia has agreed to free more than 2,000 Pakistani prisoners as the kingdom&#8217;s crown prince continued a high profile visit to its nuclear-armed ally. Mohammad bin Salman promised to deliver \u201cwhatever we can do\u201d for Pakistanis living in his country after a personal plea from Prime Minister Imran Khan. The mass amnesty followed the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5516\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}