(Disclaimer: this is a work of fiction. Learn to take a joke; you’ll live longer.)
RIYADH – Rulers of Saudi Arabia are struggling to deal with multipronged crises (see pages 3 and 4) as the kingdom’s diplomatic mastermind Prince Nawaz bin Al-Sharif is imprisoned in a Pakistani jail, reliable sources within the Saudi government have informed The Dependent.
Al-Saudi family, which has traditionally relied on the diplomatic nous of Nawaz – who many believe is the de facto Crown Prince with Muhammad bin Salman as the front – has been struggling to find answers to the many questions that regional geopolitics has posed the kingdom.
“It is no coincidence that within a month of Prince Nawaz’s imprisonment such a huge international crisis has surfaced,” a well-placed source within al-Saud family told The Dependent.
Crown Prince Nawaz is renowned for his ability to mend ties between historically antagonistic nations, with analysts underlining his ability to rattle the status quo. Critics argue that it is his fearless brand of diplomacy that has landed Nawaz in the Pakistani jail.
“Nawaz has this unique skill of maintaining reconciliation between states, and shaking up the version of status quo that he intends to shake up,” a renowned Saudi political analyst said in an email exchange with The Dependent.
“What makes him irreplaceable for Riyadh is that he does so while maintaining an unflinching loyalty towards monarchy as the only brand of government that can function in his country,” he added.
“The diplomatic genius that Nawaz is, where need be he reinterprets it as democracy. Similar is his dealing with human rights, which of course is what al-Saud family is at loggerheads with.”