ISLAMABAD, April 28, 2023: Dismissing speculations surrounding his India visit, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto clarified that it should not be “misconstrued in terms of bilateral ties” between the two neighbouring countries.
Last week, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Bilawal will attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Goa next month in what will be the first visit by a pakistani foreign minister to India in nearly a decade.
Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours have been fraught for years and they have fought three wars.
Bilawal, while speaking to Geo News on Thursday, said that he did not make any request for arranging his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
India is hosting an SCO meeting from May 4 to 5 in Goa. The SCO is an eight-member political and security bloc that includes Russia and China.
“We are committed to the SCO charter and this visit should not be seen as a bilateral one but in the context of SCO. Our participation at the meeting reflects Pakistan’s continued commitment to the SCO charter and process and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities,” Bilawal was quoted as saying.
He said that they cannot let India to further isolate Pakistan.
According to state-run radio sources, no request for any bilateral meeting between the foreign ministers of Pakistan and India has been made on this occasion.
It will be the first visit to India by a top Pakistani official since then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif attended Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in in 2014.