NEW DELHI: India is likely to seek Saudi Arabia's help in stepping up pressure on Pakistan on taking action against militant outfits based there. The issue will be raised when Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal is here on a daylong visit tomorrow. India is counting on Saudi Arabia to play a crucial role as it is known as Arab world's most influential country with tremendous influence on Pakistan's top leadership, sources said.
Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will share information with his Saudi counterpart on Pakistan-based militants' alleged role in Mumbai-terror attacks. New Delhi is keen on Riyadh exercising pressure on Islamabad to take action against anti-India militant groups based there.
Mukherjee is expected to refer to the upswing in Saudi-India ties, following the landmark visit of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah in 2006 as the Republic Day chief guest. The highlight of his visit was their inking the all-encompassing Delhi Declaration and a pact on combating terrorism.
Banking on progress in Saudi-Indian ties in the recent past, Mukherjee is likely to draw Prince Saud's attention to taking action against Saudi charities which finance terrorist organizations in Pakistan for carrying out militant activities.
Details are, however, not available on whether India has specific information on which are these groups and who are they primarily financed by. With Saudi Arabia known to have good ties with both India and Pakistan, there is a view that New Delhi should not go overboard in expecting Riyadh to adopt the attitude it desires against Islamabad.
Prince Saud's visit's primary aim is to prepare the agenda for the much over-due visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Saudi Arabia, sources said. Singh is likely to visit Saudi Arabia early next year. His visit to Riyadh, earlier scheduled for November, was deferred due to Saudi King not being available in the country because of his prior commitments.
The Saudi foreign minister is visiting India at a time when New Delhi is playing its diplomatic cards to maximum degree possible to build up international pressure against Pakistan-based terrorist groups planning anti-India activities.
Saudi Arabia has officially condemned the Mumbai attacks and has expressed its solidarity with India. As New Delhi has also been keeping a close watch on different views being expressed at different levels in the Arab world, including the media, Mukherjee is likely draw Prince Saud's attention to reports in Arab media, which have been critical of India and sympathetic toward Pakistan.
Prince Saud's visit would be the third from a Gulf country, after Mumbai-terror strikes. Oman's Foreign Minister Yusuf Bin Alawai Bin Abdullah was the first to be here. During his talks with Mukherjee, condemning Mumbai terror strikes, he had said that there "can be no excuse for not dismantling the infrastructure of terrorism across the Indian border."
The Mumbai issue figured prominently at the press conference addressed by Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Mehdi Akhoundzadeh last week. When asked on Iran's stand regarding Pakistan-based terrorists being responsible for Mumbai case, he replied: "It does not matter from which place they are. They should be dealt with iron hand."
"Terrorists have no religion, no patriotic value. India and Pakistan have proved in past few years that they have maturity to deal with terrorist cases. We should be coolheaded," Akhoundzadeh said. He pointed to leaders in both countries having fallen victims to terrorists, including Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto. On Islamic States' stand on terrorism, Akhoundzadeh said: "No genuine Islamic individual would dare to endorse terrorism."
