President Asif Ali Zardari, COAS General Ashfaq Kayani and PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain attended the funeral Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud on Tuesday.
The body of Sultan, who died of colon cancer in New York on Saturday, was flown back to Riyadh on Monday, accompanied by his younger brother and Riyadh Governor Prince Salman, who may now play a more prominent role in the conservative Islamic kingdom.
Among the mourners who went forward to greet King Abdullah after the prayer recital was Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, whose country is a regional rival of Saudi Arabia.
The Royal Court said it would be open to accept condolences for three days from Tuesday (today).
King Abdullah was chief mourner at the mosque, where Saudis in red-and-white headdresses were crammed between dozens of pillars behind the kneeling grand mufti as he led prayers.
A US delegation headed by Vice President Joe Biden also arrived in Riyadh to attend the funeral.
From Egypt military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi flew in for the funeral, Saudi state television Al-Ekhbariya reported.
Jordan’s King Abdullah, whose government declared a day of mourning on Tuesday, also landed in Saudi Arabia, as well as Sundan’s President Omar al-Bashir, wanted by the International Criminal Court.
Gulf leaders Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani of Qatar, Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah and Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa were all present in Riyadh for the funeral of Sultan.
