Islamabad, Oct 20: Observing that peaceful settlement of the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan is the "right way", Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al Faisal has said that Riyadh wanted to see "wise leadership" from President Pervez Musharraf in seeking peace in the region. Addressing a joint press conference with his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri here yesterday, Saud said Saudi Arabia was ready to do everything that could help in reaching a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir issue.

"We will do everything that we can to help in bringing about this peaceful settlement, which is the main problem that divides the two countries and that threatened the region. So anything we can do to settle the issue of Kashmir we will certainly do that."

He, however, said Saudi Arabia was interested in and "what we think is a wise leadership from Musharraf in seeking peaceful settlement with India as the right way to go."
Expressing concern over the emerging Israeli-India military relationship, Saud said, "indeed, what we are hearing of this cooperation is that it is aimed not at the good of the region but to inflame the region, to further add to the arms race in the region."

Bureau Report