Saudi Arabia has backed direct talks between India and Pakistan to resolve "outstanding issues" relating to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, according to a joint statement on Monday.
The statement was released after talks between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Makkah.
Sharif his undertaking his maiden foreign visit after re-assuming the Prime Ministership last month.
"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 joint statement noted.
Further, the statement noted that both sides agreed to expedite the first tranche of $5 billion investment package which Saudi Arabia had pledged to Pakistan.
The two leaders also discussed global and regional developments of mutual interest, including the "worrying situation in Gaza", the statement said.
"They urged for international efforts to halt Israeli military operations in Gaza, mitigate humanitarian impact and underscored the imperative for the international community to pressure Israel to cease hostilities, adhere to international law, and facilitate unhindered humanitarian aid access to Gaza," the leaders' statement said.
The statement further called for establishing an independent state of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Riyadh's Mediation Efforts in Jammu and Kashmir Issue
New Delhi has been clear in rejecting external mediation in the Jammu and Kashmir matter, asserting time and again that it is a bilateral dispute which would be solved through talks between the neighbours.
During the Simla Agreement of 1972, both the countries agreed to "settle their differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations”.
However, dialogue between the two nations has remained suspended since 2019 on account of New Delhi's concerns about cross-border terrorism as well as its decision to abrogate Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.
Since 2019, successive Pakistani governments have urged India to reverse its decision to revoke Article 370 as a precondition for resumption of talks.
Not only has India rejected Islamabad's proposal, Indian External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar remarked at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council for Foreign Ministers (CFM) meeting last May that the only issue for New Delhi after abrogation of Article 370 was "when will they vacate Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK)", or the part of Jammu and Kashmir which has been administered by Islamabad since 1948.
Last September, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan was quoted as saying by media that Riyadh had been “unremitting in its efforts to mediate” in the Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India, both of who enjoy close ties with the Gulf monarchy.