India to seek Saudi help to pressurise Pakistan

Wednesday, December 24, 2008
India to seek Saudi help to pressurise Pakistan
New Delhi: India will seek Saudi Arabia's support in putting pressure on Pakistan to act against terror outfits when Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal comes here on a day-long visit Friday.

In his meeting with his Saudi counterpart, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will share information that establishes a clear link between Pakistan-based elements and the Mumbai terror attacks, official sources said.

Mukherjee is also likely to invoke transformed ties between India and Saudi Arabia following King Abdullah's visit to New Delhi in 2006 and seek Riyadh's support in putting pressure on Islamabad to take concrete action against anti-India terror outfits in that country.

New Delhi will seek Riyadh's support in clamping down on the financing of terrorists some of whom use Saudi charities and other fronts for generating funds for subversive activities. The issue will figure in the discussions between the two ministers, the sources said.

With Pakistan stepping up its propaganda offensive against India in the Muslim world, India is likely to draw attention to reports in sections of Saudi media that have been critical of New Delhi but sympathetic to Islamabad.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to go to Saudi Arabia early next year. He was set to go to Riyadh last month, but had to defer his plan due to prior commitments of the Saudi king.

Saudi Arabia, the Arab world's most influential country that enjoys close links with Washington, has been a key ally of Pakistan in the Muslim world and has enormous clout over the powers-that-be in that country.

India and Saudi Arabia signed an all-encompassing Delhi Declaration in 2006 and inked a pact on combating terrorism.

This will be the third visit from a Muslim country since the Nov 26 Mumbai terror attacks.

Oman's Foreign Minister Yusuf Bin Alawai Bin Abdullah came here last week and offered India all support in tracking down the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks. Iran's deputy foreign minister Mohammad Mehdi Akhondzadeh also met Mukherjee last week and asked Pakistan to intensify its efforts to crack down on terror outfits.

Source: Indo-Asian News Service


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