Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that Pakistan’s position of Kashmir remains unchanged, claiming that India should have to create an conducive environment for holding talks on Kashmir Issue.
While addressing a press conference in Islamabad after the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) meeting, he said “Pakistan’s decision to attend the meeting was excellent because I got to meet every foreign minister separately except for one”.
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Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that Pakistan’s stance and position of Kashmir remains unchanged.
“We got to deliver our statement in official gathering and our goals are fulfilled,” he said.
He cited that historically, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had advocated for normalisation of Pakistan-India relations but after India violated international law in August 2019, “that space has shrunk for me”.
“In the past, Benazir Bhutto tried and Asif Ali Zardari tried for the same but India’s illegal actions undermined the bilateral environment and onus is on India,” he said. “Now, there is a trust deficit. Both sides can sign an agreement but we are not sure if the understanding will be respected or not.”
India should create a conducive environment for talks, he stressed.
Bilawal Bhutto said that the unilateral actions of August 5, 2019 not only violated international laws and the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) resolutions but also the bilateral arrangements.
He said the Indian violation had created a trust deficit as India might unilaterally violate the bilateral agreements in the future too.
Speaking about the conference itself, FM Bilawal said that there was no distinction between how Pakistan was treated and how others were treated at SCO.
To a question, the foreign minister said that without any distinction, the Indian External Affairs Minister Jaishankar greeted all the foreign ministers the same way which was also identical to the style practised in Sindh and Multan.
“I put forward Pakistan’s vision and Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar put forward India’s vision,” he said. “Our bilateral differences had no impact on this conference.”
Violation of International law run counter to SCO objectives
Bilawal Bhutto in his address at the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers moot in Goa said that unilateral and illegal measures by states in violation of international law and Security Council resolutions “run counter to the SCO objectives”.
The Foreign Office (FO), in a Twitter thread, quoted the FM as saying, “There couldn’t be a more powerful indication of the importance that Pakistan attaches to the SCO than my presence here in Goa for this Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM).”
The ministry further said that in his address, Bilawal reiterated Pakistan’s belief and adherence to the “principles of mutual trust, equality, respect for cultural diversity, and the pursuit of shared development enshrined in the original ‘Shanghai Spirit’”.
He also said that the SCO could be a key platform for taking the vision of Eurasian connectivity to the next level, FO said.
Bilawal also urged the member nations to not use “terrorism for diplomatic point-scoring”.
“The collective security of our peoples is our joint responsibility. […] Let’s not get caught up in weaponising terrorism for diplomatic point scoring,” FO quoted Bilawal as saying.
Peaceful Afghanistan
Speaking on Afghanistan, FM Bilawal said that a peaceful and stable Afghanistan is a key not only to regional integration and economic cooperation “but also to global peace and stability”.
The FM stressed the global community to work towards addressing security concerns to unlock the true potential of not only Afghanistan but the region as a whole.
Collective Efforts to Eliminate poverty
On the poverty situation in the SCO region, Bilawal called for collective efforts to mitigate financial sufferings of the people of the member states.
“We can only overcome this challenge through common efforts and by learning from each other’s experiences,”.
He said the establishment of the Special Working Group on Poverty Alleviation proposed by Pakistan will be a step in that direction.
Bilawal meets Russian Foreign Minister at SCO Sidelines
Pakistan Foreign Minister (FM) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the ongoing Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Indian state Goa.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ spokesperson said in a tweet that during the meeting both foreign ministers discussed matters related to bilateral relations and regional and international developments.
The meeting also highlighted the importance of people-to-people relations and food security in the region.
During the meeting, the foreign minister assured his Russian counterpart to “work closely for further deepening cooperation in food security, energy and people-to-people contacts”.
FM Bilawal said that the SCO opened new vistas of cooperation and coordination with Russia.
Earlier, he was welcomed by his Indian counterpart Dr S Jaishankar at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers moot in Goa.
“I am very happy that today I have arrived here leading the delegation of Pakistan,” Bilawal had told reporters on Thursday upon his arrival.
Bilawal is the first senior Pakistani leader to visit India since 2016 amid longstanding tensions between the large, nuclear-armed South Asian rivals.
