{"id":33811,"date":"2025-12-30T18:04:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T18:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=33811"},"modified":"2025-12-30T18:04:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T18:04:08","slug":"pm-shehbaz-meets-uae-president-in-rahim-yar-khan-amid-riyadh-abu-dhabi-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=33811","title":{"rendered":"PM Shehbaz meets UAE president in Rahim Yar Khan amid Riyadh-Abu Dhabi row"},"content":{"rendered":"
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday travelled to Rahim Yar Khan and held a meeting with the UAE president at Sheikh Zayed Palace, in a development that seems to be linked to the ongoing tensions between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi over Yemen.<\/p>\n

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan already had a bilateral meeting with the prime minister last Friday in Islamabad on his first official visit to Pakistan as president. A statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office did not explain the reason behind a second meeting within days, but observers believe that it could possibly be prompted by ongoing Saudi-UAE tensions.<\/p>\n

It was important that the meeting took place just hours after the Saudi Foreign Minister spoke to the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar. The flurry of engagements suggests that Pakistan might be trying to ease tensions between the two key Gulf allies.<\/p>\n

Also Read: Dar discusses ‘regional situation’ with Saudi FM amid rising Gulf tensions<\/p>\n

In Yemen, long-standing Gulf cooperation has fractured into an acute diplomatic crisis that risks derailing the Arab Coalition\u2019s unity.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes on Yemen\u2019s port city of Mukalla, targeting what it said were ships and military hardware from the UAE bound for the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), a powerful separatist faction in southern Yemen. Riyadh labelled the shipments a \u201cdangerous\u201d threat to its national security and warned Abu Dhabi of further measures.<\/p>\n

The strikes, which Saudi state media said caused no confirmed casualties, were ordered after two vessels unloaded weapons and combat vehicles at Mukalla without coalition authorisation. Riyadh said their tracking systems were disabled, a claim the UAE strongly rejected, saying the shipment contained no weapons and was intended for its own forces \u2014 and that the targeting came as a surprise despite prior coordination.<\/p>\n

Yemeni authorities backed by Riyadh reacted strongly. Yemen\u2019s Presidential Leadership Council declared a state of emergency, cancelled a defence pact with the UAE, and gave Emirati forces 24 hours to withdraw. A 72-hour blockade was imposed on ports and border crossings in territory under their control.<\/p>\n

Against this backdrop, the meeting between the prime minister and UAE president, as well as the telephonic conversation between the foreign ministers of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, was significant.<\/p>\n

Read More: Saudi Arabia calls national security a red line, urges UAE exit from Yemen<\/p>\n

Pakistan enjoys close strategic and economic ties with Saudi Arabia and the UAE and hence does not want any further escalation between the two Gulf countries. According to the official handout, Shehbaz, accompanied by DPM Dar, Information Minister Ata Tarar, and senior officials, reiterated Islamabad\u2019s commitment to deepen Pakistan\u2013UAE strategic and economic cooperation.<\/p>\n

It said the talks built on discussions held in Islamabad last week during the UAE president\u2019s first official visit to Pakistan. PM Shehbaz stressed boosting bilateral trade and expanding collaboration across IT, energy, mining, and defence sectors, while praising the UAE\u2019s role as host to over 2.1 million Pakistani expatriates who anchor people-to-people ties.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a separate foreign office statement said Dar called Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth leaders exchanged views on the current regional situation and recent developments. The DPM\/FM conveyed Season\u2019s Greetings and best wishes for the New Year, which were warmly reciprocated by Prince Faisal. The DPM\/FM expressed satisfaction with the positive trajectory of bilateral relations. Prince Faisal reaffirmed his commitment to further strengthening and enhancing bilateral ties.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday travelled to Rahim Yar Khan and held a meeting with the UAE president at Sheikh Zayed Palace, in a development that seems to be linked to the ongoing tensions between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi over Yemen. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan already had a bilateral meeting with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33811\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}