NEW DELHI, Dec 26: Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee appeared to row back on Friday on his claim that New Delhi might eventually fight its own battle with the attackers of Mumbai, telling his Saudi counterpart Saud Al-Faisal instead that it was rather a war with global dimensions, which had to be won collectively.

According to Press Trust of India, Mr Mukherjee impressed upon Prince Faisal the need for Riyadh to use its influence on Pakistan to ensure that those behind last month’s Mumbai carnage were brought to justice at the earliest.

According to the report, Mr Mukherjee is said to have shared details of the Mumbai attacks with the Saudi guest, an encouraging move after New Delhi surprisingly failed to involve Interpol to identify the gunmen when the international police body’s chief came visiting here last week.

“Terrorism is a cancer, we need to cut it out,” the Saudi foreign minister responded, while calling for the United Nations to set up an international body to deal with Mumbai-like terror attacks.

At a joint media interaction after their talks, Mr Mukherjee said terrorism was not an issue between India and Pakistan but a global menace.

“It was agreed that global terrorism has to be dealt with by joint action among all countries. We further agreed that whatever action has to be taken to control terrorism, should be taken without delay and in a transparent manner,” he said.

The Saudi minister’s visit came barely 24 hours after the Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Mr Mukherjee in the wake of war hysteria mostly facilitated by the media on both sides.

Condemning the attacks, Mr Yang agreed that the perpetrators should be punished and praised India for its “restraint and steadfastness” amid this provocative situation, an Indian report said.

Ms Rice assured India that the US had not relented in its efforts to persuade Pakistan to dismantle terror camps in that country, the report added.

Among the world’s most seasoned foreign ministers, Prince Faisal waded into the crisis with a quick caution. “There is nothing better that the terrorist would like to see but sowing dissension and creating conflict. This is what they see their success is and this is what we must prevent through collective action,” he said.

“As a matter of fact, Saudi Arabia has a proposal that we made to United Nations to create a special body for the international community to come together and fight terrorism. This is an evil, a cancer in our world and the only way to deal with such a thing is to cut it out and destroy it completely,” he added.

The Saudi minister’s visit is being seen as part of global efforts to persuade both countries to keep their militarist rhetoric in check. Mr Mukherjee’s recent comments in which he spoke of the possibility of unilateral action and with all options open was quickly followed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s calming intervention.

The Saudi minister, sensing the occasion, underlined that the best way to deal with terrorism was to “cut it out” and “destroy it completely” so that there was no repeat of tragedies like Mumbai.