The monarch of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, King Salman, has apologised to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and other leaders of Muslim countries for not presenting them with a chance to address the US-Arab-Islamic Summit, said the Foreign Office (FO).

The leaders of the Muslim world could not address the summit due to the shortage of time, said FO Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria at the weekly briefing.

“Due to the shortage of time, leaders of 30 countries could not address the summit and King Salman has apologised to all the attendees for it,” said Zakaria.

Referring to the recent award given to an Indian army officer, who used a Kashmiri youth as a human shield, the FO said it is “a crime and an insult to humanity”.

“This is not the first time that the Indian occupation forces have displayed such cowardice and inhumanity,” said the spokesperson.

The prime minister had attended the first-ever Arab-Islamic-American Summit in Riyadh on Sunday, where he interacted with Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz, US President Donald Trump and other leaders from Arab and Islamic countries.

Nawaz visited Saudi Arabia on May 21 to participate in the summit and was received by Governor of Riaydh Prince Faisal Bin Bandar Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud and senior officials.

The premier was accompanied by his Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, First Lady Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, his son Hussain Nawaz and Advocate Akram Sheikh.

In addition to King Salman and US President Donald Trump, 55 heads of state and government from the Muslim world had been invited to participate in the summit.