Pakistan hits out at UAE over Yemen

Islamabad yesterday hit out at the United Arab Emirates for condemning a parliamentary vote by Pakistani lawmakers to stay out of the conflict in Yemen declining Saudi Arabia's request, in a rare display of discord between the two allies.

Anwar Gargash, the UAE's minister of state for foreign affairs, lashed out at Pakistan's vote on his Twitter account Saturday, terming it "contradictory and dangerous and unexpected", and accusing Islamabad of siding with Iran, which is accused of backing the rebels. He added Pakistan's stand would come at a high cost.

Pakistan's interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan hit back yesterday night in an unusually strongly worded statement, accusing the UAE of "making threats".

"This is not only ironic but a thought-provoking moment that a minister of UAE is hurling threats at Pakistan. The statement of the UAE minister is in stark violation of all diplomatic norms prevalent according to the principals of international relations," he said.

Pakistan was the first country to recognise the independence of the UAE in 1971.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia yesterday dismissed Iranian calls to end air strikes on neighboring Yemen as Saudi-led attacks hit a military camp in the Yemeni city of Taiz, killing eight civilians according to a medical source.

Iran's president Hassan Rouhani on Thursday called for a ceasefire and dialogue among Yemen's factions.