Benaulim, Goa: External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar called Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari a “promoter, justifier…and spokesperson of a terrorism industry which is the mainstay of Pakistan”, in a stinging riposte to his counterpart’s remarks made in Goa Friday.
He also lambasted Pakistan on numerous accounts, and questioned Bhutto’s credibility on speaking about terrorism.
Jaishankar’s comments came hours after the Pakistan foreign minister, in his address at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Goa, batted for China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as the centre of regional connectivity. He also said countries should not “get caught up in weaponising terrorism” or trying to earn diplomatic points for it.
“Pakistan’s credibility is depleting even faster than its forex reserves,” Jaishankar told reporters at a press briefing following the SCO meeting.
This comes nearly five months after Bhutto called Prime Minister Narendra Modi the “butcher of Gujarat” while talking to the media on the sidelines of a UN meeting in New York.
Jaishankar Friday said that Pakistan’s positions on terrorism and regional connectivity were “called out” during the SCO meet, which was attended by foreign ministers of eight countries — China, Russia, Pakistan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Regional connectivity “cannot violate the territorial integrity and sovereignty of states,” he added.
“Victims of terrorism don’t sit together with perpetrators of terrorism to talk about terrorism,” Jaishankar said in response to Bhutto’s statement made earlier in the day.
Tensions between India and Pakistan have been running high in the lead up to the SCO meet. At a press briefing in Panama last week during a tour of Latin America and the Caribbean, Jaishankar had said that it is “very difficult” for India to engage with a neighbour that practices cross-border terrorism.
This came days after five Indian soldiers were killed in a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district.
During a press conference that same week, Major General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, director general of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) — the media and PR wing of the Pakistan Armed Forces — asserted that Kashmir “has never been an integral part of India, nor will it ever be”.
He also commented on former J&K governor Satya Pal Malik last month’s claims over the 2019 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 Central Police Reserve Force (CRPF) personnel were killed.
On Thursday, ahead of the SCO Meet, Jaishankar held bilateral talks with his counterparts from all member states of SCO except Pakistan.
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‘Have to take disengagement process with China forward’
Asked about his bilateral talks with Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang, the Indian foreign minister said ties between the two countries are “not normal” so long as the border areas are not stable. He was reiterating the remarks he made after meeting his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in March.
“We have to take the disengagement process forward…We made it clear that India-China relations are not normal and cannot be normal unless peace and tranquility is disturbed at the border,” he said.
During the bilateral talks, Qin reportedly told Jaishankar that the situation at the border is “stable”.
Under India’s leadership, the SCO is now working on new verticals of cooperation such as traditional medicine and reviving Buddhist heritage, Jaishankar said.
The meeting comes weeks after India hosted the Global Buddhist Summit — a first-of-its-kind event in Delhi that saw the participation of monks, scholars and heads of Buddhist organisations from across the region.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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