Saudi Arabia backs India on Kashmir, urges Pakistan to resolve issues "bilaterally" in joint statement
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Riyadh, April 9: In a significant development, Saudi Arabia seemed to support India's stand on Jammu and Kashmir in a joint statement signed with Pakistan, asking both countries to resolve their "outstanding issues" bilaterally. The joint statement was issued a day after Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Saudi de-facto ruler Prince Mohammed bin Salman held an official meeting on April 7 at Al-Safa Palace in Mecca.
"The two sides stressed the importance of dialogue between Pakistan and India to resolve the outstanding issues between the two countries, especially the Jammu and Kashmir dispute to ensure peace and stability in the region," the statement read.
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Saudi Arabia has maintained a balanced approach over Jammu and Kashmir. While the Kingdom expressed concern over India's abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, it did not explicitly condemn the actions, instead referring to it as New Delhi's internal matter.
Notably, Saudi and Pakistan’s joint statement did not include a reference to a UNSC resolution on Kashmir, which has been used by Pakistan time and again. Instead, it urged for bilateral resolution of issues, echoing the Shimla Pact, which is New Delhi’s line that has been standard formulation for Islamabad.
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In 2019, Pakistan urged the US to "persuade" India to start talks on the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue. This came after then-US President Donald Trump offered to mediate between the two nations on the Kashmir issue.
However, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had made it clear that "any discussion on the issue, if at all warranted, will only be with Pakistan and only bilaterally". With this, India has also maintained the stance if any talks would ever happen between both countries, it will only happen in an environment free of terror, hostility and violence.
Apart from this, India has repeatedly told Pakistan that Jammu and Kashmir “was, is and shall forever” remain an integral part of the country.