- Friday, April 26, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
Pakistani foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has remarked that his visit to Goa in India for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers’ meeting was a “success” as he spoke for the country on the soil of the neighbouring country with which Islamabad doesn’t have a smooth relationship, India Today reported.
The 34-year-old diplomat’s remarks came hours after his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyan Jaishankar took a strong dig at him by referring to him as the “promoter, justifier and a spokesperson of the terror industry”.
Bhutto-Zardari visited India on Thursday (4) to become the first foreign minister of his country to set foot in India in 12 years. Although he had no bilateral meeting with Jaishankar, the two sides were seen trading barbs on issues such as abrogating Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and cross-border terrorism.
The Pakistan People’s Party leader said his visit to India was successful because his remarks helped extinguishing the notion that every Muslim was a terrorist.
“پاکستان کا اصولی مؤقف آج بھی وہی ہے کہ جب تک بھارت کشمیر میں اگست 5، 2019 کے غیر قانونی اقدامات کو واپس نہیں لیتا ہم ڈائیلاگ نہیں کرسکتے۔”
وزیر خارجہ بلاول بھٹو زرداری @BBhuttoZardari
1/4 pic.twitter.com/EvxzrmSaLh— PPP (@MediaCellPPP) May 5, 2023
He said they made an attempt to shatter the “myth”, the report added.
Bhutto-Zardari also said that India should create a conducive environment for talks between the two neighbours by restoring the pre-August 2019 status of Kashmir when Article 370 of the Indian Constitution was still in force.
Hours later, Jaishankar slammed his Pakistani counterpart by calling him “a promoter, justifier and a spokesperson of the terrorist industry, which is the mainstay of Pakistan”.
VIDEO | "As a foreign minister of an SCO member state, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was treated accordingly," says EAM @DrSJaishankar, addressing a press meet on SCO Foreign Ministers' Meeting. pic.twitter.com/F0F23Slyz0
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) May 5, 2023
“As a foreign minister of an SCO member state, Bhutto-Zardari was treated accordingly. As a promoter, justifier and a spokesperson of the terrorist industry, which is the mainstay of Pakistan, his positions were called out and they were countered including at the SCO meeting itself,” Jaishankar said in a press conference.
Earlier on Friday (5), Jaishankar was seen welcoming Bhutto-Zardari with a ‘namaste’ and not handshake though India Today reported citing sources that the duo shook hands and exchanged pleasantries when the Indian foreign minister hosted a dinner for the guests on Thursday evening.
