Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who was due to make his first official visit to Pakistan from Saturday, has cut it short by one-day after the Pulwama terror attack.
The attack, which killed 40 CRPF jawans in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, has been claimed by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed.
According to Pakistani media, Saudi Crown Prince's arrival in Pakistan on his first official visit to the country has been delayed by a day for "unknown reasons". He was scheduled to reach Islamabad on Saturday but due to a slight change, he will arrive on Sunday, according to the Foreign Office.
The Saudi Crown Prince, who is due to visit New Delhi next week, is expected to ink investment deals worth USD 10-15 billion dollars while in Islamabad. In October last year, Saudi Arabia offered Pakistan a $6 billion loan to help keep its ailing economy afloat, after the United States refused to give any more money to the country until it ended support to terror outfits breeding on its soil.
The development comes at a time when India has appealed to the international community to put pressure on Pakistan to come clean on links with terror groups and stop providing shelter to them on its soil.
Indian officials are in touch with the envoys of the United Nation P5 countries - United States, United Kingdom, Russia, France and China - to brief them about Pakistan's role in sponsoring terror.
Twenty-five heads of mission of countries including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Nepal also met at the foreign ministry in Delhi this evening and agreed that Pakistan must immediately stop financing terror groups, according to news agency ANI.
India wants the United Nations Security Council to designate Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, a move that China has been blocking.
In his visit to New Delhi next week, Prince Mohammed will be accompanied by the leading Saudi businessmen. He has been invited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PM Modi met the Prince in November last year, when they were both in Argentina for a Group of 20 (G20) summit. Though Saudi Arabia remains India's top crude oil supplier, the two countries have expanded ties beyond energy, and their governments have agreed to build a strategic partnership, the foreign ministry said last week.
(With inputs from agencies)
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