ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia has expressed deep concern over developments in Indian administered Kashmir and called for a peaceful resolution of the dispute between India and Pakistan, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Thursday.

Quoting an unnamed official source at the Kingdom’s foreign ministry, the report added that Saudi authorities were closely following the situation in the region that was triggered by “India’s abolition of Article 370 of the Constitution, which guarantees autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir.”

The official added that Riyadh wanted peaceful settlement of Kashmir that was also in line with the relevant international resolutions.

According to SPA, Saudi Arabia also called on the “parties concerned to maintain peace and stability in the region and to take into account the interests of the people of the region.”

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the phone and discussed the Indian action of scrapping Kashmir’s special constitutional status.

This was the second telephonic contact between the two leaders in less than a week.

Earlier, on August 1, Khan called the Saudi crown prince and offered his condolences to him on the sad demise of Prince Bandar bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud.

Khan also thanked Saudi Arabia for its strong political and economic support for Pakistan.

Tensions are mounting between the two South Asian nuclear neighbors after India scrapped Articles 35-A and 370 of its constitution and placed the internationally recognized disputed Kashmir region in a security lockdown.

Pakistan informed India to withdraw its high commissioner from Islamabad as Islamabad decided to downgrade its diplomatic relations with New Delhi and suspend trade ties with India after a high level meeting on Wednesday.

Later, a joint session of Pakistan’s parliament also passed a resolution against the Indian decision and the recent increase in the “unprovoked firing and shelling” of Indian forces along the Line of Control that separates the Pakistani and Indian sides of Kashmir.

The joint parliamentary session on Wednesday also called upon the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation to convene an extraordinary session on the Indian move.

It also urged the international community to stop New Delhi from taking actions that could lead to dangerous escalation in the South Asian region.