Saudi Crown Prince orders release of 850 Indian prisoners at PM Modi's request

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday ordered the release of 850 Indian prisoners lodged in Saudi jails on the request of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government said this evening. "Another big deliverable! At the request of the PM Narendra Modi, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia has ordered the release of 850 Indian prisoners lodged in Saudi jails," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted. During the recent Budget Session, the Ministry of External Affairs said in Lok Sabha that a total of 4,705 Indian nationals are in prisons in the Gulf countries. Saudi Arabia has a total of 2,224 prisoners followed by the United Arab Emirates with 1,606.

Along with the release of the prisoners, the Foreign Ministry said the Saudi Crown Prince has also announced the increase in the quota for Indian Haj pilgrims to 2 lakh at the request of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"And another important take away from the visit of #SaudiCrownPrince which would help more Indian pilgrims to perform the Haj His Royal Highness the SaudiCrownPrince announced the increase in quota for Indian Haj pilgrims to 200,000 at the request of PM @narendramodi," MEA spokesperson tweeted.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Saudi prince had held bilateral talks earlier in the day where the visiting dignitary, MBS, described terrorism as a "common concern". The Saudi Crown Prince said his country is ready to extend all kinds of cooperation to India in fighting the scourge but made no mention of the ghastly Pulwama terror attack carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit last week.

Saudi Crown Prince's two-day visit comes nearly three years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Riyadh in April 2016. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad-bin Salman arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday on his maiden visit to the country and was warmly received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the airport.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hugged the visiting Crown Prince with a hug as soon as he got off his plane.