Saudi Arabia's crown prince passes away...
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RIYADH, (SANA): Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud passed away, a palace announcement on state television said on Saturday, throwing his brother Prince Naif into line to succeed King Abdullah as king of Saudi Arabia.
The crown prince aged around 86, who had served as the Kingdom’s defence chief for nearly five decades, had been in the United States since mid-June for medical treatment. He was operated on in July but no information had been released on his health since then.
A half brother of King Abdullah, Sultan had spent long periods abroad for medical treatment.
The King was operated on in November for a debilitating herniated disc complicated by a haematoma, or blood clot, that put pressure on his spine and underwent further surgery to repair several vertebrae.
The latest operation was aimed at repairing a slackening ligament near the third vertebra. State media said the surgery was successful.
The advanced age and failing health of the king and of his half-brothers in line to succeed him has raised concerns about the future of the oil-kingpin in the face of the turmoil rocking the Arab world.
The Al-Saud family has ruled Saudi Arabia ever since the kingdom’s establishment in 1932 and under its rules of succession the throne passes in turn to the sons of its founder Abdul Aziz, all of whom are now elderly.
Prince Nayef, who becomes crown prince on the death of Prince Sultan, is 78.
Another half-brother of King Abdullah, he holds the interior portfolio.
Prince Sultan’s funeral will take place on Tuesday after his body has been repatriated from the United States.
Sultan had battled colon cancer since 2004, going to Switzerland and then the United States to seek treatment, according to diplomats.
His long illness and absences abroad held up important government decisions while raising questions about how the monarchy would take shape in the next generation of the Al-Saud family.
Then King Faisal assigned him the defence portfolio in 1962, and he became one of a handful of key princes, including Abdullah and Sultan’s full brothers Prince Naif and Prince Salman, who have run Saudi Arabia for four decades.
In 1982, his full brother king Fahd appointed Sultan second deputy prime minister, making him second-in-line to the succession after then-crown prince Abdullah.
Meanwhile Pakistani leadership including President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Mian Nawaz Sharif, Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif, Amir JI Syed Munawar Hassan and others offered grievances with the Saudi King and masses over the death of crown prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz.
At first, in my home, everybody was confused if the King had passed away or the crown prince.. Rest in Peace, Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud...
