Tharoor clarifies ‘interlocutor’ comment about Saudi Arabia

Union Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor on Sunday clarified that he did not mean that Saudi Arabia should be a mediator between India and Pakistan. Earlier in the day,Tharoor reportedly said that Saudi Arabia could be a ‘valuable interlocutor’ between India and Pakistan.

Tharoor,who is accompanying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on a three-day State visit to Saudi Arabia,said: “We feel that Saudi Arabia of course has a long and close relationship with Pakistan but that makes Saudi Arabia even a more valuable interlocutor for us.”

Shortly after making the remarks,Tharoor retracted them. “There’s no chance of my saying Saudi Arabia should be a mediator. Never said that or anything like it”,he said. Previously,Tharoor had invited controversy by making statements on social networking site Twitter about the government’s austerity measures and immigration policy.