Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s two day visit to India is looked forward in interest in the diplomatic circles . It comes right after his trip to Pakistan amidst the Pulwama attack backdrop. Since Saudi Arabia had good ties with Pakistan, India is likely to raise the issue of cross border terrorism and the support it gets from Pakistan.
The crown prince who arrived in Islamabad on Sunday at the start of his tour of South Asia had returned to Saudi Arabia on Monday, official sources said. As New Delhi had reservations over his coming to India directly from Pakistan.
During his visit it is assumed that the two countries will look at further enhancing defence ties, including having a joint naval exercise, during his two-day visit in New Delhi beginning on Tuesday, officials and sources said.
Ahead of the visit by the crown prince, According to Dawn, while addressing the joint press conference in Islamabad, Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs Adel bin Ahmed Al- Jubeir said, “Saudi Arabia’s objective is to try to deescalate tension between the neighbouring countries. I hope that both countries would be able to resolve the dispute between them peacefully.”
The Saudi minister’s comments came in the wake of the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed when their convoy was targeted by a suicide bomber of Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammad.