I've heard this before but the truth is Pakistan would put itself in a precarious position if it did. As a fact, we do know that SAMs were active. Second, IAF could easily dodge BVRs that were fired from the distance they were. To really shoot, they had to come closer risking the mission and being in range of any Indian offensive.
What they could have really done to cause damage is lob the bombs at the intended target. That they could. That would have sent a clear message. However, saying it was purposefully lead out of the range of the target proved it did not have an appetite for a war. By doing so, it opened possibilities of limited confrontation for India and India revoked special status on Kashmir.
I do not know about any Saudi demand. However, holding Abhinandan for longer would have caused more pain for India. Don't forget the Pakistani narrative here was that India attacked a harmless madrasa and of course its pertinent to remind every one that both countries are nuclear powers. So, if you are going with a narrative that a harmless school was attacked, you could have held Abhi for longer and force India to answer some really tough questions. The pressure on Modi from common citizens for Abhi was immense - a lost opportunity as far as war games go even in my mind and I'm a proud Indian!