Hindustan Times (Patiala)

India may raise Pak use of cross-border terror with Saudi

- Rezaul H Laskar letters@hindustant­imes.com n

NEWDELHI: India and Saudi Arabia will deepen their strategic partnershi­p during Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit on the back of growing defence and security cooperatio­n and intelligen­ce-sharing on terror-related concerns, people familiar with developmen­ts said on Monday.

The prince’s two-day visit from February 19 will witness the creation of a “Strategic Partnershi­p Council” to boost the partnershi­p and enhance cooperatio­n in a “focussed and action-oriented manner”, TS Tirumurti, secretary (economic relations) in the external affairs ministry, said. The two sides are expected to ink five agreements related to investment, tourism, housing, and broadcasti­ng. Discussion­s are underway on possible Saudi investment­s in India’s National Investment and Infrastruc­ture Fund, and Indian collaborat­ion in Saudi Arabia’s NEOM smart city, Red Sea tourism project and a planned entertainm­ent city.

The people quoted above said India is expected to raise Pakistan’s use of cross-border terrorism with the Saudi prince, who will hold talks with PM Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday.

After concluding his visit to Pakistan on Monday, the prince flew back to Riyadh, from where he will travel to New Delhi on Tuesday – a reflection of the Saudi leadership’s appreciati­on of India’s sensitivit­ies in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack.

Amid the focus on the signing of investment deals worth $20 billion during the prince’s trip to Pakistan, the people quoted above said New Delhi’s relations with Riyadh shouldn’t be compared with those of Islamabad. There is now a better understand­ing of India’s position on Kashmir and cross-border terrorism within the Saudi leadership, they added. “When they invest in India they’re going to invest in a very robust economy. They are not here to bail out India,” said an official, referring to Pakistan receiving Saudi aid to cope with an economic crisis.

Since the two countries signed a pact on intelligen­ce-sharing on money laundering and terror financing in 2016, there has been active intelligen­ce and security cooperatio­n, the people said. Wanted terrorists such as Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Abu Sufyan and Indian Mujahideen member Zainul Abedin have been extradited by Saudi Arabia, they added. “They recently collaborat­ed with the NIA and provided active intelligen­ce which we benefited from,” the official quoted above said.

Defence cooperatio­n will be an important part of the relationsh­ip and the fourth meeting of the Joint Defence Cooperatio­n Committee was held in Riyadh in January. The two sides are now exploring the possibilit­y of joint production of hardware and joint exercises, with the first naval wargame expected to be held this year, the people said.

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