Not a bilateral one: Pak FM Bhutto on attending SCO meet in India

Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said in an interview that his visit to India to participate in a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Council should "not be seen as a bilateral one."

Speaking to Pakistan's Dunya News, Zardari said that his visit reflected Islamabad's commitment to the charter of the SCO. "We are committed to the SCO charter and this visit should not be seen as a bilateral one but in the context of the SCO," ANI quoted Bhutto-Zardari as saying.

In a step that provides an opportunity to break the ice between the two neighbours, Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch on announced that Zardari would participate in SCO meeting.

"Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be leading the Pakistan delegation to the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) being held on May 4-5, 2023, in Goa, India," she said.

It ended the speculation around whether he would attend the conference in person or not due to differences between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. She had said that the Pakistan government had accepted Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's invitation.

"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," Baloch said.

It is the first highest-level visit to India by any Pakistani leader in recent years after the relationship of the two nuclear-armed neighbours strained India's warplanes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Pakistan's Balakot in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack.

The India's decision to withdraw special status to Jammu and Kashmir the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into Union territories in August 2019 further deteriorated the relationship.

Founded in at a summit in 2001, it has Russia, China, India, Pakistan, and four central Asian countries - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan as its members. Iran is the latest member to join the group as a full-fledged member.

With inputs from agencies