ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is striving to strike a proper balance in its relations with Saudi Arabia and Iran.

This was stated by Foreign Affairs and National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz in an in-camera briefing to Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. He had been invited by the committee to brief its members on the visit of Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Abdel Aziz to Pakistan last month.

Briefing journalists after the meeting, Committee’s Chairman Haji Adeel said the senators had been informed that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would visit Tehran in a few weeks.

(A source from Tehran separately said Mr Sharif could be visiting Iran some time in May.)

Mr Aziz admitted that maintaining the balance in the two important relationships was tricky.

Prime Minister Sharif’s move to get an economic bailout from Saudi Arabia has complicated the foreign policy effort to keep a balance in relations with Saudi Arabia and Iran. And coincidentally this happens at a time when Riyadh and Tehran, pre-occupied with their bilateral rivalry, have little time and patience for Islamabad.

There are apprehensions in Tehran that Islamabad could have already entered Riyadh’s embrace by accepting the $1.5 billion donation to the Pakistan Development Fund.

The adviser assured the committee that the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline was not dead despite having been put on the backburner because of Tehran’s back-tracking on a $500 million loan pledge for the project.

Mr Aziz said $1.5bn given by Saudi Arabia for stabilising Pakistan’s economy was a “grant” and had no strings attached to it.

The senators questioned him about the quid pro quo for Riyadh’s donation and sought assurances from the government that the policy on Syria would not be changed following the Saudi gesture.

The adviser said that subscribing to the Geneva Process on Syria should not be implied as a demand for President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

He said although there was a proposal for exporting arms to Saudi Arabia, it would be ensured that Pakistan-made arms did not land in Arab conflict zones.

“The government is aware of repercussions of the Syrian crisis for the Muslim world in general and Pakistan in particular,” Mr Aziz was quoted as having told the committee.

The senators expressed the worry that reports of sale of Anza missiles to Saudi Arabia, delay in the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline and the visit of King of Bahrain Shaikh Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa pointed towards an impending shift in foreign policy. (The Bahrain king will arrive on Tuesday.)

When Mushahid Hussain drew Mr Aziz’s attention to the Kunming (China) attack and threat by a Pakistan-based Uighur militant group of carrying out revenge attacks against China, he said the government would address the security concerns of its strategic partner and important neighbour.

The meeting later unanimously adopted a resolution moved by Mr Mushahid Hussain denouncing the Kunming attack and expressing concern over the threat by the Uighur militants from their hideout claimed to be on the Pakistani side of the Afghan border.