Speculation grows about Saudi Arabia prince’s India visit

NEWDELHI: Saudi Arabia on Saturday called off Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s planned visit to two Southeast Asia nations, raising speculation about his travel plans to India next week.

According to an earlier plan, the prince was scheduled to go to Pakistan and Malaysia before travelling to India during February 19-20 for a visit intended to boost cooperation in fields ranging from defence and security to trade and investment.

The Indonesian foreign ministry announced on Saturday the prince’s plans to visit Indonesia and Malaysia during a five-nation tour had been postponed. It said new dates for the visit will be worked out later. Besides India and Pakistan, the prince is expected to visit China.

Any plan to travel directly from Pakistan, which the prince will visit during February 17-18, to India is not expected to go down well with New Delhi, especially in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack claimed by the JeM, people familiar with developments said. The Saudi delegation had initially planned to travel from Pakistan to Malaysia to send out a message that Riyadh was not hyphenating its relations with New Delhi and Islamabad. There was speculation on Saturday that the Saudi delegation would make a brief stopover in Riyadh after the Pakistan leg of the tour before travelling to India.