NEW DELHI:  In the first direct high level contact after the Pulwama massacre and the Indian air strike on Balakot, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale met US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday at the start of his three-day visit to Washington.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State for foreign affairs Adel al-Jubeir arrived in New Delhi on a five-hour visit, meeting PM Narenda Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and other officials before rushing back to Riyadh. This was his third interaction with the Indian side in less than a month.  

While officials said al-Jubeir’s visit was to follow-up on the announcements made by Saudi Crown prince Mohammad Bin Salman during his trip to Delhi last month, some sources said Jubeir had come to offer Riyadh’s “good offices” in resolving the India-Pakistan standoff.

However, al-Jubeir’s offer was “politely declined,” and he was told that the only issue was Pakistan’s use of terror as an instrument of state policy.   Noting that Gokhale’s visit to the US was part of a regular high-level dialogue mechanism, the MEA said “Foreign Secretary conveyed appreciation to the US Government and to Secretary Pompeo personally for the firm support that India received from the US in the aftermath of the terrorist attack in Pulwama, in Jammu and Kashmir.”