New Delhi: The last-minute insertion and mention of Pakistan delayed the issuance of the India-Saudi Arabia joint statement by almost eight hours Wednesday, diplomatic sources told ThePrint.
The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, who was on a day’s tour to India, held a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the afternoon, but the joint statement was issued by the Ministry of External Affairs only around 10:30 pm, way past normal working hours.
According to sources, the Indian government was insistent that the Saudis insert Pakistan’s name in the joint statement “at any cost” after the Pulwama attack that took place just a week before the Crown Prince was to arrive in India. So, while the MEA had the statement ready months before the visit was to take place, last-minute tweaking delayed the entire process.
Besides, the fact that the Crown Prince was coming to India after a two-day visit to Pakistan was also one of the key factors, the sources said.
In the joint statement that was issued after the Crown Prince’s meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, both sides had clearly talked about the need to avoid politicisation of the UN Listing Regime of terrorists.
The Crown Prince made no mention of the Pulwama attack or Pakistan’s role in the incident during his public statement after his meeting with Modi.
Also read: Mohammed bin Salman’s India visit before elections puts Modi govt in a tricky situation
What the final statement contained
In the joint statement that was finally issued by India, just couple of hours before the Crown Prince was to depart, both sides applauded Modi’s initiatives to have “friendly relations” with Pakistan, as well as highlighting the need to resume dialogue between the neighbours.
“The two sides stressed the importance of regional stability and good neighbouring relations. His Royal Highness appreciated consistent efforts made by Prime Minister Modi since May 2014 including Prime Minister’s personal initiatives to have friendly relations with Pakistan. In this context, both sides agreed on the need for creation of conditions necessary for resumption of the comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan,” the statement read.
However, both sides vowed to fight terrorism and extremism, urged the international community to expedite the process of adopting the UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism and underlined the importance of comprehensive sanctioning of terrorists and their organisations by the UN.
Also read: In India, Saudi Arabia Crown Prince says will help fight terror but stays silent on Pulwama
Too late for damage control
However, veteran diplomat and strategic affairs expert and former Indian ambassador to Iran K.C. Singh said the statement came too late, considering the Crown Prince’s omission of Pulwama.
“India-Saudi Arabia joint statement text came too late to fully limit damage by Crown Prince not condoling Pulwama martyrs or naming Pakistan. Indian negotiators belatedly retrieved ground by inserting reference … ‘states’ abetting terror for India means Pakistan & for Saudi Arabia it is Iran,” he tweeted.
Given our dependence on KSA for oil and inward remittances from the millions of workers, their pathetic track record on terrorism (remember all those behind 9/11) were Saudis, their heartless support for killing children in Yemen, MBS a known murderer declares himself an Ambassador of Pakistan wonder what did we really expect from the joint statement. And more importantly does it matter?
Unclear how any Indian objective has been met by urging the resumption of a comprehensive – earlier it was composite – dialogue with Pakistan. That is what the whole world has been urging us to do. We insist on bringing ourselves down to one neighbour’s level, when the overriding national mission should be to raise ourselves to the other’s.