Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Aljubeir arrived in New Delhi on an unannounced visit and held talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Thursday afternoon.

The visit assumes significance against the backdrop of India carrying out missile strikes in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.

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”A good meeting with @AdelAljubeir, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia, this morning. Shared India’s perspectives on firmly countering terrorism,” Mr Jaishankar wrote on ‘X’ after the meeting.

India’s missile strikes in Pakistan and the indiscriminate artillery shelling by the Pakistan Army in civilian areas in India are understood to have figured during the talks.

Saudi Arabia, considered a strong ally of Pakistan, has refused to come out in favour of Islamabad in the wake of the Pahalgam attack.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on an official visit to Saudi Arabia on the day 26 tourists were gunned down by Pakistan-backed terrorists in Pahalgam on April 22.
The PM cut short his visit and returned home in the early hours of April 23, and went into a series of meetings with key ministers and civil and military officials to draw up India’s strategy to avenge the killings in Pahalgam.