Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Goa on May 4 and 5. This was announced by Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Baloch on Thursday. While the announcement has triggered speculations on the possibility of a bilateral meeting between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart, India has downplayed Bilawal’s upcoming visit in what is being viewed as a calculated reaction. When asked to comment on Pakistan’s participation in the upcoming SCO Foreign Ministers’ Meet, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “It won’t be appropriate to focus on a particular member”. He also termed the speculations on possibility of Jaishankar-Bilawal bilateral meeting as premature. The MEA spokesperson, in fact, sought to signal that the issues and agenda that have to be discussed during the SCO FMs meeting in Goa should be the main focus, not the visit of one particular member or the other. And the agenda for the Goa meet definitely includes the issue of terrorism. The comments from the MEA are a clear indicator that India is going to raise the issue of terrorism emanating from the neighbouring regions in a big way.
Bilawal’s presence at the SCO meeting will be providing EAM Jaishankar a much-needed opportunity to give a blunt message to Pakistan over terrorism. There is no denying that Jaishankar will use this opportunity to the fullest to raise the issue of cross-border terrorism as well. Therefore, Bilawal’s decision to attend the SCO meet in Goa is a good opportunity for India to launch a veiled attack on Pakistan over terrorism in presence of its Foreign Minister. Significantly, the SCO Foreign Minister’s conclave will be held in the run up to the SCO Leadership Summit to be held probably in July in New Delhi. The foreign ministers will finalise the agenda for the upcoming summit in New Delhi which will see participation, among others, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The confirmation about the participation of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif has not come yet. So in view of the upcoming SCO Summit of Heads of the State, Jaishankar is expected to ensure inclusion of terrorism in the agenda in a quite big and effective way. Jaishankar’s speech at SCO Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Tashkent last year needs to be recalled here. Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal was also present in that meeting. In his presence, Jaishankar had unequivocally called for zero tolerance to terrorism in all its manifestations. “Zero tolerance for terrorism in all its manifestations is a must.” These were exact words of Jaishnakar, which found mention during the interactions at the summit meeting of SCO leaders. How can the Indian side also forget Bilawal’s remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi? India had termed Pakistan FM’s remarks as “uncivilized” and a “new low even for Pakistan”. As Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang will also be attending the Goa meet, Jaishankar should use the occasion to send a strong message to Beijing as well. What needs to be highlighted by the Indian foreign minister is that Chinese activities in Pakistan actually embolden terrorists and those providing them safe haven. In this context, China’s plan to extend CPEC to Afghanistan should be referred to. Despite India’s reservations about involvement of third countries in CPEC, China is said to be keen to support the extension of the same into Afghanistan. In a veiled manner, Gang should be given the message that China’s action aimed at defending Pakistan based terrorists during the process of blacklisting them at the United Nations Security Council weakens the collective global fight against terrorism. China must be apprised once again of India’s stand at the UN that the tendency to categorise terrorism on the basis of motivations behind terrorist acts is dangerous. “The tendency of categorisation of terrorism based on the motivations behind terrorist acts is dangerous and goes against the accepted principles that ‘terrorism in all its forms and manifestations should be condemned and there cannot be any justification for any act of terrorism, whatsoever’,” India once said at the UN.