Terrorists shouldn't just be blacklisted, but tried and punished: Saudi foreign minister

Speaking to NDTV, the minister, who is part of the delegation accompanying Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said: "Our policy on listing individuals is very clear, if someone is engaged in terrorism, if someone belongs to a terror organisation that is responsible for murdering people, if somebody finances terrorism or recruits for terrorism, that person is implicated in terrorism and ought to be punished and if you can't capture that person, he or she has to be designated so that they cannot roam the world freely and when they are captured, they are brought to justice."

Al-Jubeir, however, declined to answer directly if India needed to provide more evidence on the involvement of Jaish-e-Mohammad and Masood Azhar in the February 14 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 40 soldiers. He said it was an "ongoing dialogue" both with Saudi Arabia and the other members of the international community.

Crown prince Salman, who is on his first State Visit to India, in his address to the media said terrorism and extremism were a common concern and Saudi Arabia would "cooperate with India and neighbouring states" on this issue. There was, however, no mention of the Pulwama attack.

The Saudi minister, however, told NDTV: "We were one of the first countries to very strongly condemn the terrorist attack... We have very good relations with India in terms of counter terrorism, we have good relations with India when it comes to exchanging information against terrorists -- including information that led to stopping terrorist attacks."

Saudi Arabi backs India's fight against terrorism:

India on Wednesday mustered crucial backing from Saudi Arabia with the visiting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud stating that his country will provide "all kinds of help to India including intelligence sharing".

"On extremism and terrorism, we want to assure India that we will extend all kinds of cooperation including intelligence sharing," the visiting Crown Prince said in a joint media briefing after bilateral talks with the Indian delegation led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Extremism and terrorism are our common concerns. We would like to tell our friend India that we'll cooperate on all fronts....We will also work with everyone to ensure a brighter future for our upcoming generations," he said.

In his remarks, Prime Minister Modi said, "We agreed that there is a need to increase pressure on the countries which support terrorism".

"The barbaric terrorist attack in Pulwama last week, is another cruel indicator about the challenge before the world and the humanity. To tackle this menace effectively, we agree that there is a need to increase all possible pressures on countries supporting terrorism in any way," the Prime Minister said without naming Pakistan.

Modi said it will be important for the global community to understand that there is need to destroy terror infrastructures and also to ensure that the perpetrators of such acts are punished.

"India and Saudi Arabia are on agreement that this terror menace should not misguide and mislead the younger generation," Modi said.