Did Pakistan’s ISI stage Poonch attack to derail Bhutto’s India visit?

The terror attack in Poonch, Jammu and Kashmir in which five soldiers lost their lives has cast a shadow on the visit by Pakistan's foreign minister, Bilawal Bhutto.

The attack came just hours after it was announced that Bhutto would visit India for the G20 meet. This attack has now cast a shadow over the visit by Bhutto.

Bhutto's visit would be the first by any Pakistani Foreign Minister since Hina Rabbani Khar in 2011. It would also be the first high-level visit by a Pakistani official since the one made by Nawaz Sharif in 2014 for the swearing-in-ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The ties between India and Pakistan have been bitter of long. India has always maintained that there shall be no bi-lateral ties until Islamabad stops funding terror.

When asked about Bhutto's visit, Minister of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, 'it would not be really appropriate to look at the participation by any one particular country.'

The Poonch attack is not new in the scheme of things for Islamabad. Every time India has made attempts to calm down ties with the Pakistan, the ISI has staged an attack to derail ties. One such example is the Pathankot attack. The attack was staged by the Jaish-e-Mohammad at the behest of the ISI following the surprise visit Prime Minister Modi made to Pakistan.

An Intelligence Bureau official tells OneIndia that the grenade attack in Poonch was planned days in advance. The ISI had this planned all along in a bid to disrupt the G20 meeting. A series of attacks are on the anvil of the ISI to disrupt the meet and create havoc in J&K, the IB official cited above said.

The Poonch attack is likely to have an impact on the visit by Bhutto. There is already mistrust when it comes to Pakistan and this attack has added more to that. Ties are already strained between the two countries, owing to Pakistan's constant sponsoring of attacks in India. The Pulwama and Uri attacks are examples of this.

Following the Mumbai 26/11 attacks, peace talks between the two countries between the two countries had stalled.

Ties were further strained when India and Pakistan engaged in a diplomatic spat in New York. External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar had slammed Pakistan for being an epicentre of terrorism.