Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is the first high-level Pakistani official to have visited India in almost 12 years. The ties between the two South Asian rivals have not exactly been smooth since both countries gained independence from British rule in 1947, and a 2019 terror attack on Indian troops in Kashmir further increased tensions.
New Delhi, which accuses Islamabad of backing Islamists and separatists in India-administered Kashmir, blamed the attack on Pakistan.
India and Pakistan claim the disputed Kashmir region in its entirety but each rule only parts of it.
In 2019, New Delhi revoked the special constitutional status enjoyed by the part of Kashmirunder its control, further angering Islamabad.
Despite these thorny issues, the Pakistani foreign minister’s decision to visit India to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting could be seen as a positive development. At the same time, it was a missed opportunity to improve ties between the two sides.
Bhutto was certainly cautious about the implications of his trip, as his political rival Imran Khan’s party had already accused him of compromising on the “Kashmir cause.”
“I will be leading the Pakistan delegation at the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers. My decision to attend this meeting illustrates Pakistan’s strong commitment to the charter of SCO,” he said on Twitter prior to his departure to Goa, adding that his visit would only focus on the SCO. “I look forward to constructive discussions with my counterparts from friendly countries.”
India is certainly not a “friendly country” for Pakistan, which is why there were no bilateral talks with Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar.
The SCO was founded in 2001 to discuss security and economic matters in Central Asia. China, Islamabad’s major regional ally, leads the bloc, and India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan are also part of the grouping.
No bilateral engagement
“The SCO is an important regional forum, and Pakistan has been its full member since 2017. We have participated in all mandatory SCO meetings to contribute to regional peace, prosperity, and development. The foreign minister’s presence in the meeting will ensure that Pakistan’s interests are safeguarded,” Shazia Marri, Pakistan’s federal minister for poverty alleviation and social safety, told DW.
“Pakistan’s participation at the SCO in Goa is not a bilateral interaction between Pakistan and India. The visit took place in a multilateral context, keeping with Pakistan’s commitment to the SCO,” she added.
Amit Ranjan, a research fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore, believes the time was not right for Bhutto to have a direct meeting with his Indian counterpart, Jaishankar. “There was an absence of a conducive environment for the Bhutto-Jaishankar meeting,” Ranjan told DW. “Unless such a political environment is created, it is tough to see India and Pakistan engaging in talks. It’s a missed opportunity for now.”
But that is easier said than done. Since New Delhi revoked Kashmir’s special status, any government in Pakistan would face a backlash domestically should it choose to engage with India.
“It is important for Pakistan to maintain a safe distance from the Indian government. India was not looking to engage with Pakistan at the SCO. There is no chance of a breakthrough unless New Delhi revises its Kashmir policy,” Mosharraf Zaidi, an Islamabad-based political analyst, told DW.
“This visit was not an engagement opportunity as India is continuously looking to punish and hurt Pakistan,” he added.
Bhutto said on Friday that it was India’s responsibility to build a “conducive environment for talks,” adding that India’s 2019 actions in Kashmir “really undermined the environment, and now the onus is on India that they create the conducive environment in which talks can be held.”
T. C. A. Raghavan, a former Indian envoy to Pakistan, echoed this view, saying that Bhutto’s visit is unlikely to have any bilateral takeaways and is seen by both India and Pakistan in the SCO context alone.
T. C. A. Raghavan, a former Indian envoy to Pakistan, echoed this view, saying that Bhutto’s visit is unlikely to have any bilateral takeaways and is seen by both India and Pakistan in the SCO context alone.
“If one has to search for positives, it could be said that this is better than Pakistan not attending the meeting at all,” Raghavan said. “But presently the situation in Pakistan is not conducive for any movement on India.”
Additional reporting by Murali Krishnan, DW reporter in New Delhi, and Haroon Janjua, DW reporter in Islamabad.
Source: Deutsche Welle