Daily Times

What Pakistan gained and lost from Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s tour to India for the SCO Summit 2023?

First of its kind since 2011, it is the first visit by the Pakistani Foreign Minister to India.

Pakistan and India became full members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation together in 2017. Shanghai Cooperation Organisation was formed in 2001 to strengthen the relations between member states by deepening political, security, and economic cooperation, striving for cooperation between the members to confront threats emanating from terrorism, extremism, and separatism.

Pakistan, being a geographically rich yet geopolitically challenged country, has been surviving troubles and isolation on the global front since PTI came into power in 2018. With angered Chinese, triggered Americans, hostile India & isolated Afghanistan on borders, it was more than necessary for Pakistan as a state to visit India for the SCO conference.

Those reading this, and the ones criticising Foreign Minister Bilawal’s visit to India for mere political scoring should consider the fact that he toured India as a Foreign Minister of Pakistan, not for his political brownie points.

With angered Chinese, triggered Americans, hostile India and isolated Afghanistan on borders, it was more than necessary for Pakistan as a state to visit India for the SCO conference.

To keep the records straight, India revoked Article 370 which used to give the Muslims & other communities living in disputed Jammu & Kashmir, special recognition by India State. This revocation was done by the BJP-led India Government in 2019 when Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreeke Insaaf the ruling party in Pakistan. With no resistance shown by the PTI then, it showed a little hope again when Bilawal Bhutto Zardari took the reigns of the Foreign Ministry in 2022. Within a year, he not only raised the plight of Kashmiris on every global forum but also aggressively, and passionately endorsed maximum support for the cause.

It was in December during the UN G-77 Summit where during a heated argument, responding to India’s false allegations, called Indian Prime Minister Modi as “Butcher of Gujrat”, a historic fact, not a mere statement. Foreign Minister Bilawal exposed India’s fascist policies, tendencies intended to undermine the Muslim minorities in India and further created a religious division for BJP’s election campaign.

Coming back to the SCO Summit 2023, India the host, not only violated the essence of its centuries-old tradition of treating its guest with due honour and respect but also conveyed clearly to the Hindus in India that BJP does not stand for true Hinduism, which beliefs in “Athiti DevoBhava”, instead demeans the guests with arrogance.

It was Foreign Minister Bilawal’s firm stance on the Kashmiris & exposing the fascist ideology of the BJP-Modi saga that triggered the Indian Government to pass undiplomatic & irresponsible statements during the official press briefing of SCO Summit being a host.

On one hand, where India constantly used undiplomatic means for their political scoring, Foreign Minister Bilawal talked about global climate, and economic challenges and further insisted on ease of trade between SCO countries. He also talked about growing extremism on global fronts against ethnic & religious minorities.

Foreign Minister Bilawal before his arrival in India clarified publicly that the visit is purely SCO concerned & the Foreign Ministry has no intentions for bilateral talks until & unless the BJP Government resumes Article 370 into its true position.

Amid the challenges faced by the current Government on global fronts due to an ineffective foreign policy by the previous regime, Foreign Minister Bilawal has been surviving each minute, putting in every minor and a major effort to resume and improve Pakistan’s lost foreign relations and get back from the global isolation. Bilawal’s counterparts from China & Afghanistan arriving in Pakistan, directly after SCO Summit in India, shows that those bridges that had been burnt with China by PTI, are being reconstructed by FM Bilawal & the current unity government”.

The majority in Pakistan has appreciated & endorsed Foreign Minister Bilawal’s visit to India as a success, with a wave of support from all right & left hands, except a handful of supporters of the ex-ruling party PTI, whose ideology not only matches with BJP, but the ex-Pakistani PM also wished for Modi to come in power pre-2019 general elections in India. The trigger, exhaustion & anger among a handful of the above-mentioned followers is understandable, which ultimately caused a trust deficit among the Chinese, impacting CPEC’s progress towards Pakistan’s success.

Pakistan has not only gotten back the lost respect on international grounds but has also gained the maximum from the SCO Summit under the leadership of Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

The writer is a freelance columnist.