Trying to sell small arms, fighter jets to Saudi Arabia: Sartaj

LONDON: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz has said Pakistan wants to strike a balance between Saudi Arabia and Iran to ease tensions between the two countries.

In an interview with BBC's Urdu Service, Sartaj Aziz said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will visit Iran in May or June to discuss bilateral relations and world issues. When he was asked if Pakistan was sending arms to Syria, he said there was no specific agreement about Syria in the present circumstances.

Pakistan was following a neutral policy on Syria in line with UN resolutions. He said that sectarian divisions were very harmful for the Islamic world.

Sartaj further said Islamabad was making efforts to sell small arms and fighter aircraft to Saudi Arabia. He said it was strange that objections were being raised about it, though all world nations wanted to sell their weapons to other countries. He said there was no difficulty for Saudi Arabia to purchase weapons from any other country. There was no need for creating any doubts on the issue, he added.

Over Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project, the advisor said that the project was intact, but due to sanctions the time limit for its implementation would have to be reset.