Pakistan’s minister of foreign affairs Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is making India anxious. He is set to arrive in India to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign minister’s meeting in May. The SCO meet will be held in the India city of Goa on 4 and 5 May. India’s concern is Bilawal might go into overdrive in his anti-India rhetoric during his stay in India.
A source at India’s external affairs ministry said, “Due to Pakistan’s history and Bilawal’s recent unruly attitude, we fear that Pakistan-India animosity might upstage the goals of SCO meet.”
A week ago, Pakistanls ministry of foreign affairs communicated that Bilawal Bhutto will be coming to India. India’s ministry of external affairs acknowledged that possibility and said that as the chairman of SCO they have extended an invitation to all member countries. Since then, there have been speculations whether the India and Pakistan foreign ministers will have bilateral talks.
Although India hasn’t officially issued a comment on the matter, India’s minister of external affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar during his ongoing tour in Panama has negated any chance of that happening.
“It is for us very difficult to engage with a neighbour who practices cross-border terrorism against us. We’ve always said that they have to deliver on the commitment not to encourage, sponsor and carry out cross-border terrorism. We continue to hope that one day we would reach that stage,” Jaishankar said after his meeting with Panama’s foreign minister Janaina Tewaney Mencomo.
Jaishankar didn’t utter Pakistan’s name but he made it clear that there is no chance of India resuming bilateral discussions with Pakistan.
Pakistan-India bilateral talks have remained closed since 2014 soon after Narendra Modi ascended to power in India. That year, Pakistan’s prime minister Nawaz Sharif had accepted Modi’s invitation and attended his oath taking ceremony. After that, Pakistan High Commission had a meeting Kashmir separatist’s group Harriyat leaders. In response, India’s foreign secretary Sujata Singh’s Islamabad tour was cancelled. Since then, there hasn’t been any bilateral discussion between the two countries.
India has repeatedly said that Pakistan has to stop aiding terrorist activities and prove itself as a good neighbour, otherwise, they will not resume bilateral talks.
Another big reason why Bilawal-Jaishankar discussion is unlikely to take place is because of India’s internal politics. One week after the meet in Goa, the legislative election will take place in Karnataka. Ruling party BJP is desperate to hold onto power in that state. For that, they have been trying to create a religious divide for a long time. For them, being anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan is the same thing.
The words Muslim and Pakistan is synonymous to them. Jammu-Kashmir’s former governor and BJP leader Satyapal Malik is again targeting the government for the Pulwama attack. He is claiming that the government’s negligence caused that attack and the ruling party used that incident to win the Lok Sabha election in 2019. If Jaishankar holds talks with Bilawal, that would give the opposition further ammunition to use against the BJP. The government surely won’t hand that opportunity to the opposition.
Even if no bilateral talks take place between India and Pakistan, India’s external affairs ministry is anxious about the meet. Bilawal’s presence could add to the troubles and discomfort.
In December last year, Bilawal crossed all lines of decency when he directly attacked Indian prime minister Narendra Modi in the UN security council assembly.
Bilawal said in his speech, “Osama bin Laden is dead, but the butcher of Gujarat lives and he is the prime minister of India.”
India took grave offence to this comment. According to a source at the external affairs ministry, “He was invited as it was customary, but the Pakistan foreign minister won’t receive any extra attention.” The source further said that Pakistan won’t be allowed to engage in any other activity outside of the SCO meet.
Still, the south block is worried about what’s going to happen. Will the Indian media take Bilawal’s interview, will Bilawal host a press conference outside of the SCO meet, will he once again bring up the Kashmir issue– these thoughts are worrying India.
Pakistan has already opposed to India’s plans of hosting the G20 Tourism Summit in Jammu-Kashmir. That summit will take place in Srinagar on 22-24 May. What will Bilawal do in Goa, is a question the whole of India is pondering right now.