<p>Pakistan will confer its highest civilian honour on the Saudi crown prince on Monday, a day after he signed investment deals worth $20 billion on the first stop of an Asian tour clouded by his alleged role in the grisly murder of a dissident journalist.</p>.<p>President Arif Alvi will award Mohammad bin Salman the Nishan-e-Pakistan (Order of Pakistan), the foreign office said in a statement, before the crown prince leaves the country for his next stop, Islamabad's arch-rival India.</p>.<p>Pakistan is facing a serious balance of payments crisis and hopes the huge deals signed over the two-day visit -- seven separate agreements and memorandums of understanding -- will boost its struggling economy.</p>.<p>The tour coincides with a spike in regional tensions: India and Saudi Arabia's arch-rival Iran -- both bordering Pakistan -- have accused Islamabad of backing militant groups which have carried out bloody suicide attacks on their soil in recent days.</p>.<p>Hours ahead of the crown prince's arrival Sunday, Pakistan dismissed Delhi's accusations as "well-rehearsed tactics from (the) Indian playbook after such incidents in the past".</p>.<p>The crown prince, widely known as "MBS", got a warm welcome in Pakistan, including a 21-gun salute and an honour guard.</p>.<p>He is staging the visit just five months after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a fierce critic, at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul ignited a diplomatic crisis.</p>.<p>The Saudis, after initially denying any knowledge of Khashoggi's disappearance, finally acknowledged that a team killed him inside the consulate, but described it as a rogue operation that did not involve the crown prince.</p>.<p>Turkey said Friday it has not yet revealed all the information it has uncovered in the case, which launched a global wave of revulsion and tarnished the crown prince's reputation.</p>.<p>Analysts have said the tour is part of a Gulf pivot to rising Asia as a growing oil market, but also a timely demonstration to the West that MBS is not an international pariah.</p>.<p>The crown prince's tour is expected to finish with two days in China on Thursday and Friday.</p>
<p>Pakistan will confer its highest civilian honour on the Saudi crown prince on Monday, a day after he signed investment deals worth $20 billion on the first stop of an Asian tour clouded by his alleged role in the grisly murder of a dissident journalist.</p>.<p>President Arif Alvi will award Mohammad bin Salman the Nishan-e-Pakistan (Order of Pakistan), the foreign office said in a statement, before the crown prince leaves the country for his next stop, Islamabad's arch-rival India.</p>.<p>Pakistan is facing a serious balance of payments crisis and hopes the huge deals signed over the two-day visit -- seven separate agreements and memorandums of understanding -- will boost its struggling economy.</p>.<p>The tour coincides with a spike in regional tensions: India and Saudi Arabia's arch-rival Iran -- both bordering Pakistan -- have accused Islamabad of backing militant groups which have carried out bloody suicide attacks on their soil in recent days.</p>.<p>Hours ahead of the crown prince's arrival Sunday, Pakistan dismissed Delhi's accusations as "well-rehearsed tactics from (the) Indian playbook after such incidents in the past".</p>.<p>The crown prince, widely known as "MBS", got a warm welcome in Pakistan, including a 21-gun salute and an honour guard.</p>.<p>He is staging the visit just five months after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a fierce critic, at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul ignited a diplomatic crisis.</p>.<p>The Saudis, after initially denying any knowledge of Khashoggi's disappearance, finally acknowledged that a team killed him inside the consulate, but described it as a rogue operation that did not involve the crown prince.</p>.<p>Turkey said Friday it has not yet revealed all the information it has uncovered in the case, which launched a global wave of revulsion and tarnished the crown prince's reputation.</p>.<p>Analysts have said the tour is part of a Gulf pivot to rising Asia as a growing oil market, but also a timely demonstration to the West that MBS is not an international pariah.</p>.<p>The crown prince's tour is expected to finish with two days in China on Thursday and Friday.</p>