NEW DELHI: Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will participate in the SCO foreign ministers’ meeting India will host in Goa on May 5, Islamabad said in an announcement Thursday.
The government tried to play down Pakistan’s announcement of Bilawal’s visit, saying it would not be appropriate to focus on the participation of one country alone in a multilateral event. While it didn’t officially rule out a bilateral meeting between him and his counterpart S Jaishankar, the government didn’t seem hopeful of the visit leading to any substantive engagement between the 2 countries.
Participation in the Eurasian group is a foreign policy priority for Pakistan, not least because of its ties with China and recent overtures of friendship to Russia. Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov will both attend the meeting in Goa.
The last time there was a ministerial visit by either side was in 2015 when then foreign minister Sushma Swaraj travelled to Islamabad for a multilateral conference (Heart of Asia). Pakistan PM’s foreign policy adviser and de facto minister Sartaj Aziz also visited India in 2016, again for the same conference India held in Amritsar.
Swaraj’s visit saw an abortive attempt by both sides to resume the dialogue process under the new name of comprehensive bilateral dialogue. The terrorist attack on the Pathankot airbase weeks after the announcement put paid to that initiative.
The visit by Bilawal, while significant, does not inspire much hope of a thaw in ties as it comes at a time bilateral ties remain downgraded in the absence of high commissioners and when both missions are working with only half the number of the sanctioned strength of officials. Pakistan recalled its high commissioner in 2019 after India revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and India next year asked Islamabad to reduce its mission strength by half saying Pakistani officials were facilitating Pakistan’s larger policy of cross-border terrorism against India. Islamabad has flip-flopped on the issue of resuming normal ties with India, while officially maintaining that talks can only take place after India reverses its August, 2019, decision to reorganise the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
“Specifically, for the SCO foreign ministers’ meeting that is scheduled to take place in Goa on May 4 and 5, we had extended similar invitations to all SCO member-states, and we look forward to a successful meeting. It would not be appropriate to look at participation by any one particular country,” said MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, responding to questions on Pakistan’s announcement.
Asked about the possibility of a bilateral meeting, the official said it would be premature to talk about it now but added that the external affairs minister “does try to hold as many bilateral meetings as he can on the margins of such kinds of multilateral meetings’’.
India has also invited Pakistan defence minister Khwaja Asif for another SCO meeting next week but a confirmation about him is still awaited. An invite to Pakistam PM Shehbaz Sharif for the SCO summit, which is expected to take place on July 4, will also be delivered soon to Islamabad by India which holds the presidency of the group. According to the government, which maintains that Pakistan is yet to rein in terrorists targeting India, the invites shouldn’t be seen as any outreach to Pakistan as these are meant only for SCO. The 2 countries haven’t allowed the freeze in ties to come in the way of SCO cooperation and Indian officials have even travelled to Pakistan to participate in counter-terror exercises.
The last Pakistani foreign minister to visit India was Hina Rabbani Khar in 2011.
“Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistan’s commitment to the SCO Charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities,” the Pakistan foreign ministry said Thursday, adding that Bilawal had been invited by Jaishankar who is the current chairman of the SCO foreign ministers council.
The government tried to play down Pakistan’s announcement of Bilawal’s visit, saying it would not be appropriate to focus on the participation of one country alone in a multilateral event. While it didn’t officially rule out a bilateral meeting between him and his counterpart S Jaishankar, the government didn’t seem hopeful of the visit leading to any substantive engagement between the 2 countries.
Participation in the Eurasian group is a foreign policy priority for Pakistan, not least because of its ties with China and recent overtures of friendship to Russia. Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov will both attend the meeting in Goa.
The last time there was a ministerial visit by either side was in 2015 when then foreign minister Sushma Swaraj travelled to Islamabad for a multilateral conference (Heart of Asia). Pakistan PM’s foreign policy adviser and de facto minister Sartaj Aziz also visited India in 2016, again for the same conference India held in Amritsar.
Swaraj’s visit saw an abortive attempt by both sides to resume the dialogue process under the new name of comprehensive bilateral dialogue. The terrorist attack on the Pathankot airbase weeks after the announcement put paid to that initiative.
The visit by Bilawal, while significant, does not inspire much hope of a thaw in ties as it comes at a time bilateral ties remain downgraded in the absence of high commissioners and when both missions are working with only half the number of the sanctioned strength of officials. Pakistan recalled its high commissioner in 2019 after India revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and India next year asked Islamabad to reduce its mission strength by half saying Pakistani officials were facilitating Pakistan’s larger policy of cross-border terrorism against India. Islamabad has flip-flopped on the issue of resuming normal ties with India, while officially maintaining that talks can only take place after India reverses its August, 2019, decision to reorganise the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
“Specifically, for the SCO foreign ministers’ meeting that is scheduled to take place in Goa on May 4 and 5, we had extended similar invitations to all SCO member-states, and we look forward to a successful meeting. It would not be appropriate to look at participation by any one particular country,” said MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, responding to questions on Pakistan’s announcement.
Asked about the possibility of a bilateral meeting, the official said it would be premature to talk about it now but added that the external affairs minister “does try to hold as many bilateral meetings as he can on the margins of such kinds of multilateral meetings’’.
India has also invited Pakistan defence minister Khwaja Asif for another SCO meeting next week but a confirmation about him is still awaited. An invite to Pakistam PM Shehbaz Sharif for the SCO summit, which is expected to take place on July 4, will also be delivered soon to Islamabad by India which holds the presidency of the group. According to the government, which maintains that Pakistan is yet to rein in terrorists targeting India, the invites shouldn’t be seen as any outreach to Pakistan as these are meant only for SCO. The 2 countries haven’t allowed the freeze in ties to come in the way of SCO cooperation and Indian officials have even travelled to Pakistan to participate in counter-terror exercises.
The last Pakistani foreign minister to visit India was Hina Rabbani Khar in 2011.
“Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistan’s commitment to the SCO Charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities,” the Pakistan foreign ministry said Thursday, adding that Bilawal had been invited by Jaishankar who is the current chairman of the SCO foreign ministers council.