Saudi Crown Prince says ready to extend cooperation to India in fighting terror but skips mention of Pulwama

He skipped any reference to the Pulwama attack at a joint press interaction here even after Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned the "barbaric" terror incident and emphasised that pressure must be mounted on countries supporting terrorism so that they dismantle terror infrastructure existing on their soil and take action against the terror elements.

"Extremism and terrorism are our common concern. We would like to tell our friend India that we will extend all kinds of cooperation, including intelligence sharing. We will work with everyone to ensure a brighter future for our upcoming generations," Mohammed bin Salman, who is popularly known as MBS, said at a joint press interaction with Modi.

The terror attack on CRPF convoy in Pulwama on February 14, in which 40 personnel were killed, was claimed by JeM.

The skipping of mention of Pulwama attack by MBS assumes significance as only two days back he was in Pakistan where a joint statement issued after his talks with Prime Minister Imran Khan had "underlined the need for avoiding politicization of UN listing regime."

The mention of "avoiding politicization of UN listing regime" was seen as significant as it came at a time when India, along with the US, UK, France and Russia, are pushing a proposal at the UN Security Council for listing Pakistan-based and backed JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. The proposal is being stonewalled by China, which has put a "technical hold" on it.

At the joint press interaction here on Wednesday, Prime Minister Modi said the "barbaric" attack in Pulwama last week highlighted the threat of terror on the world.

He said all kinds of pressure should be mounted on the countries which provide "any kind of support" to terrorism so that the terror infrastructure there is dismantled and action is taken against the terror elements.