Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s visit to India last week is being described by commentators in both countries as a diplomatic disaster and failure at breaking the ice between the two countries to pave the way for resuming engagement.
Several observers felt that the visiting leader’s attempt to criticise New Delhi for “weaponising terrorism as a diplomatic tool” indicated that Islamabad was unwilling to give any firm guarantee of acting against terrorists conducting attacks on India from Pakistani soil.
Since his comments came in the wake of a series of terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) leading to the death of Indian security personnel, it made it clear that Pakistan wanted to conduct ‘business as usual’ without addressing the core Indian concern.
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But Bilawal Bhutto tried to play down the import of the attack by arguing that even Pakistan was a victim of terrorism and on this India and Pakistan were in the same boat.
Hamid Bashani, a well-known Pakistan expert and political analyst, said, “Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s visit to India was a diplomatic disaster.”
He pointed out that if the aim of the first Pakistani foreign minister’s visit to India in 12 years was to pave the way for peace and normalisation of ties between the two neighbours, it has achieved the opposite.
Bashani argued that nothing could be farther from the truth than attempting to equate India and Pakistan, both as victims of terrorism.
“India has been for years a victim of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. But the terrorist activities one can see in recent years in Pakistan is a result of Islamabad’s own policy of nurturing these forces and using them to achieve political and diplomatic goals,” he said.
“Unlike India which rightly accuses Pakistan for conducting cross-border terrorism against it, Islamabad cannot accuse any outside force for the terrorist activities within the country as they are all home-grown,” he added.
Bilawal Bhutto came to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)’s foreign ministerial meeting in Goa between May 4 and 5.
He had maintained before his trip to India that there would be no bilateral issues on his agenda and the sole focus was to attend the SCO meeting since it was important for Pakistan to keep in touch with its extended neighbourhood.
However, observers point out that the underlying reason for the Pakistani foreign minister’s visit to Goa was to seek a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the SCO meeting with his Indian counterpart and host, S. Jaishankar.
But though Jaishankar received him with the due courtesy shown to the other guests, there was no bilateral meeting between the two foreign ministers.
This had become more or less certain after the terrorist attack in Poonch killed five Indian security personnel days before the Pakistani foreign minister’s visit.
Since a main subject of discussion at the SCO meet was security and safety for the member countries, Jaishankar also took the opportunity to strongly criticise Pakistan for encouraging terrorist activities against India from its territory.
“You know, victims of terrorism do not sit together with perpetrators of terrorism to discuss terrorism,” Jaishankar said while explaining why there was no bilateral meeting with Bilawal Bhutto.
The Indian foreign minister accused his Pakistani counterpart as a “promoter, justifier and a spokesperson of a terror industry”.
He pointed out that “The victims of terrorism defend themselves, counter acts of terrorism, they call it out, they delegitimise it, and that is exactly what is happening.”
Jaishankar added, “Let’s be very, very clear on this terrorism matter. I will say Pakistan’s credibility is depleting even faster than its forex reserves.”
Former Pakistan Prime Minister and the country’s main opposition leader Imran Khan said Pakistan was humiliated.
Khan, the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, told a rally of his supporters, “Pakistan’s foreign minister should have calculated the cost-benefit ratio before embarking on this diplomatically-risky journey."
Bilawal Bhutto has tried to sell his visit to India as a great success. But barring supporters of his Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and some India-baiters, most observers and commentators have agreed that it has made relations with India only worse.
Former Indian foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal said, knowing that India would indirectly target Pakistan on the terrorism issue, Bilawal Bhutto tried to state his piece while in Goa.
He had tried to argue that Pakistan was a victim of terrorism, it does not in any way support terrorism, and a distinction should be made between state and non-state actors ― implying that the Pakistani state is not involved.
In addition, he said that since Pakistan has complied with the Financial Action Tax Force (FATF) requirements of denying financial support for terrorism and money laundering, the issue of terrorism should not be weaponised in diplomacy by India.
The former Indian foreign secretary felt Pakistan was digging a deeper hole for itself in its relations with India.
He said any prospect of resumption of any serious contact between the two countries has now been buried.
Sibal made it clear that India can do without a dialogue, but any new adventurism by Pakistan would be suicidal.
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