Bilawal Bhutto to Attend SCO Meet in India in May, First Visit by Pak Foreign Minister in a Decade

Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be participating in the SCO Foreign Minister’s meeting in Goa on May 4-5.

This will be the first visit of the Pakistani Foreign Minister to India in over a decade. Earlier in 2011, then Pakistan Foreign Minister and now junior Foreign Minister in Pakistan Hina Rabbani Khar had visited New Delhi.

India and Pakistan have seen minimal diplomatic engagement as the ties between the two neighbouring nations got sour in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack in February 2019.

The last high-level visit from the Pakistani delegation was in December 2016, when the then-Pakistan Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz visited India to attend the Heart of Asia Conference in Amritsar. Since then, there have been no official visits by Pakistan’s Foreign Minister to India.

Announcing Bilawal’s visit, Pakistan Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said that the foreign minister is attending the SCO meet on the invitation of the Current Chair of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers Dr S Jaishankar.

“Our Participation to 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 spokesperson said.

India-Pakistan bilateral relations are virtually on a standstill, especially after the Pulwama terror attack, where 40 Indian Paramilitary personnel died after as a suicide bomber affiliated with the Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) drove an explosive-laden vehicle into a convoy of vehicles carrying Indian security personnel.

The terror attack was followed by Balakot strike where Indian Air force targeted and destroyed military camps on the Pakistani side by launching high precision guided missiles. The incidents followed days of high tension where the two nuclear armed neighbours were seemingly on the brink of a war.

It is yet not clear whether the visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister will be having any bilateral meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

As a host and Chair of SCO Council of foreign ministers, Jaishankar is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with most of the participating foreign Ministers of SCO member countries in Goa on the sidelines of the SCO meeting.

However, the world will be following closely if the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan will engage bilaterally or if it will remain limited to a few exchanges of pleasantries between Jaishankar and Bhutto.

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