Saudi Arabia hopes for deescalation of tension between India, Pakistan

Amid growing tension between India and Pakistan after the Pulwama terror attack, Saudi Arabia on Monday said its main objective is to "deescalate tension" between the neighbouring countries and it hopes that Delhi and Islamabad would resolve the dispute peacefully.

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 in Pulwama district on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.

This development is crucial as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman arrives in India on February 19.

The minister was addressing a joint press conference with Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Islamabad during the state visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

He also slammed Iran for accusing Pakistan of the recent attack on Iran Revolutionary Guards and said Tehran itself is a "chief sponsor of terrorism".

The remarks by the minister came after the visit of the Saudi crown prince's visit to Pakistan.

During the joint press conference, Al-Jubeir said, "It was strange [for] the foreign minister of the world's chief sponsor of terrorism to accuse others of engaging in terrorist activities".

According to Dawn, Al- Jubeir accused Iran of "sponsoring" terrorism "since the Iranian revolution of 1979", adding that Iran had "established terrorist groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthis in Yemen. He said that "Iran had been implicated" in terrorist attacks that took place in other countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Earlier, MBS announced a US$ 20 billion bailouts for Pakistan.