NEW YORK, June 13: Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal has sued Pakistan International Airlines, accusing it of blocking efforts to sell $8.6 million in shares of the carrier's PIA Investments unit, a Bloomsburg News report says.

In the complaint, filed in

New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan last week, Prince Al-Faisal accused PIA Investments and the airline of try-

ing to halt his sale of 7,200 shares to Alpha Capital MC Limited.

PIA Investments, owner and manager of the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan and Hotel Scribe in Paris, has a first right of refusal and offered ''a grossly reduced price'' of $480,000 on May 2, the suit said.

“Rather than permit the sale to proceed, or acquiring the shares as PIAC was entitled to, PIAC instructed the company to redeem the claimant's shares as an end-run around Prince Faisal's shareholder rights,'' the prince said in the suit.