Saudi Crown Prince ‘praises’ Imran Khan for opening Kartarpur: Joint Statement

Islamabad, Feb 18 (ANI): At a time when India is seething with anger over Pulwama attack, Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman on Monday “praised” Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for his “openness” and “efforts” for dialogue with India and opening the Kartarpur crossing point, according to a joint statement issued after their talks here.
The joint statement said the two sides also stressed that “dialogue is the only way to ensure peace and stability in the region to resolve outstanding issues.”
“During the official talks in Islamabad, His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince and Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, praised openness and efforts of Prime Minister Imran Khan for dialogue with India and the opening of the Kartarpur crossing point and the efforts exerted by both sides, stressing that dialogue is the only way to ensure peace and stability in the region to resolve outstanding issues,” the document said.
Referring to the issue of terrorism and extremism, it claimed that both sides “reiterated their commitment to continue combating” the scourge and “expressed their deep appreciation for the achievements and sacrifices made by the two sides in the war against terrorism.”
They “called on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities to join all international efforts to combat global terrorism”, the statement said.
Interestingly, the statement said the two sides “underlined the need for avoiding politicization of UN listing regime.”
This assumes significance as India, supported by the US, is pushing a proposal at the UN Security Council for listing Pakistan-based and backed Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. The proposal is being stonewalled by China, which has put a “technical hold” on it.
These observations in the joint statement come at a time when India is angry with Pakistan in the aftermath of the deadly terror attack on CRPF convoy in Pulwama on February 14 in which 40 personnel were killed.
The terror attack was carried out by JeM, which is responsible for several other terror attacks in India, including the one on Parliament in 2001. (ANI)