Saudi Prince Salman flies back home as India objects to direct arrival from Pakistan

New Delhi, Feb 19: After concluding his two-day historic visit to Pakistan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman returned to Riyadh on Monday before travelling to India on Tuesday night.

[Saudi Crown Prince to visit India today, defence, trade deal; Pak-sponsored terror on agenda]

India had conveyed to the Saudi authorities that a visit to New Delhi by the Crown Prince Salman, popularly known as MBS, immediately following a stop in Islamabad, would not be acceptable to India, PTI quoted sources as saying, adding that New Delhi had reservations over his coming to India from Pakistan.

Pakistan's efforts to use Saudi Arabia to neutralize a diplomatic onslaught by India following last week's Pulwama attack was checkmated by New Delhi with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) going home for a day, in what is seen as a de-hyphenation of relations between India and Pakistan.

The Crown Prince arrived in Islamabad on Sunday at the start of his tour of South Asia, but returned to Saudi Arabia on Monday

During his visit in Pakistan, Crown Prince had stressed that dialogue is the only way to resolve outstanding issues between the two nuclear-armed neighbours - India and Pakistan - and ensure peace and stability in the region. He also praised the steps taken by Pakistan and Prime Minister Imran Khan towards forging better ties with India.

Ahead of the visit by the Crown Prince, Saudi Arabia's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir said in Islamabad on Monday that Riyadh will try to "de-escalate" tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of the deadly terror attack in Pulwama by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad.