ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and the Chief of the ArmyStaff General Qamar Javed Bajwa will visit Saudi Arabia today on a day-longtrip, where they will inspect the exercises of the 41-country IslamicMilitary Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC).

According to media reports, the civil-military bigwigs will also hold animportant meeting with the custodian of two holy mosques King Salman binAbdul Aziz and Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman.

Defence Minister Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan will be the lone ministerwho has been made part of the crucial entourage.

The civil and military chiefs are visiting Saudi Arabia for the first timeafter Pakistan dispatched troops to the Holy Kingdom to train Saudimilitary forces, two months ago.

They will also discuss matters relating to recent missile attacks fromYemen’s Houthi rebels against Saudia Arabia.

Prime Minister Abbasi and General Bajwa will also discuss the regionalsecurity situation and matters pertaining to developments in the Islamicworld, especially the middle east.

The situation in Syria will also come up for deliberations during themeetings, in the backdrop of attacks by US-led western alliance.

It is worth mentioning that Saturday’s tour is the fourth visit of PMabbasi to Saudia Arabia since he assumed office, after the ouster of NawazSharif in Panama Papers scandal by Supreme court.

Moreover, the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition (IMCTC) is awilling coalition of 41 countries sans Iran that forms a pan-Islamicunified front in the global fight against terrorism and violent extremism.