Bilawal Bhutto’s visit to Goa will be tied to scope of SCO meeting and old issues

Bilawal Bhutto India Visit: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is coming to India for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting, will stay on Indian soil for about 24 hours. After about 12 years, a Foreign Minister of Pakistan will be in India. However, it is only because of the sourness present in Indo-Pak relations that the name of Pakistan Foreign Minister is not included in the list of bilateral meetings of Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar on the sidelines of this meeting being held under the banner of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

In such a situation, the visit of Pakistan Foreign Minister to Goa will not bring any major change in the relations between the two neighboring countries. The important meeting of foreign ministers of SCO countries being led by India will start at around 10 am on May 5 and will end with lunch. To attend this meeting, Pak Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto’s Gulf-stream chartered plane will reach Goa airport by around 4 pm on May 4. A dinner of foreign ministers of SCO countries has also been organized on the same evening.

Bilawal will spend time in Taj Group’s resort

Call it a coincidence or a message, but in Goa the Pak Foreign Minister will spend most of his time at the Taj Group resort which is also the venue of the meeting. Keep in mind that in 2008, the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, about 600 km from Goa, was targeted by terrorists from Pakistan. That too at a time when the then Foreign Minister of Pakistan was present on Indian soil. The terrorist attacks on Mumbai and the wounds of terrorism received by India from Pakistan after that have thwarted the efforts of the betterment of relations between the two countries.

Pakistan’s foreign minister’s visit to India will not only reflect the shadow of the old disputes between the two countries on cross-border terrorism, but will also affect the sourness of Bilawal Bhutto’s objectionable statement about PM Modi a few months back. In December 2022, the Foreign Minister of Pakistan used the word butcher for PM Modi, after which the Government of India lodged its objection with a sharp reaction. In such a situation, the shadow of this strong statement will also be seen in Bilawal Bhutto’s visit.

Also, due to the meeting being held in Goa, there will be no scope for any formality like courtesy meeting of foreign ministers of SCO countries with PM Modi. Normally, the foreign minister who assembles for such a meeting also comes to meet the head of government of the host country.

The issue of terrorism will be raised on the platform of SCO

There may not be scope for any bilateral meeting between the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan, but the issue of terrorism, which has become a major cause of sour relations between the two countries, will definitely figure prominently on the SCO platform. The Director General of SCO’s Regional Anti-Terrorism Mechanism will also be present in Goa for this meeting.

However, sources made it clear that the SCO foreign ministers’ meeting is held according to a fixed agenda and there is no scope for raising issues related to bilateral differences on their own accord.

This meeting of Foreign Ministers being held in Goa will prepare the ground for the SCO Summit to be held in July. All the member countries including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping are to be invited for this meeting to be held in New Delhi. Iran will participate as a full member of SCO for the first time in the meeting to be held in India.

About two decades old, this regional organization has 8 member countries including India. Iran, Belarus and Mongolia continued to participate as observers till now. At the same time, 14 countries including Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE are included as dialogue partners.

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