Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar referred to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as the “promoter, justifier, and spokesperson of a terrorism industry” in a statement to the media.
“Victims of terrorism do not sit together with its perpetrators to discuss terrorism,” Mr Jaishankar said following a gathering of the foreign ministers of the SCO members in Goa.
“Bhutto Zardari came as the foreign minister of an SCO member state; that’s part of multilateral diplomacy and we don’t see anything more than that,” said Mr Jaishankar.
At the SCO gathering, there was no bilateral encounter between the two foreign ministers.
In a direct jab at Pakistan’s struggle with a severe financial crisis that has led the nation to pound on doors for loans, Mr Jaishankar added, “On terrorism, Pakistan’s credibility is eroding even faster than its forex reserves.”
Mr Jaishankar’s remarks were made on the same day that five Indian Army personnel were killed in the line of duty while participating in an operation to uncover terrorists hiding in a forest close to Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir. Last Monday, the suspected Pakistani terrorists assaulted an army convoy, murdering five more soldiers.
Pakistan’s direct backing of terrorism on its soil to arm and send terrorists to Jammu and Kashmir has been demonstrated numerous times by India. Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Masood Azhar, and numerous more terrorists are all present in Pakistan.
The first Pakistani Foreign Minister to visit India in nearly 12 years is Mr Zardari, the son of assassinated former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Hina Rabbani Khar, the former Pakistani foreign minister, visited India in 2011. Sartaj Aziz made the most recent trip at the ministerial level from Pakistan in 2016.
Mr Jaishankar called for unified action to combat terrorism at the SCO summit. He claimed that turning away from terrorism will harm the SCO.
“Neither individuals nor states should be allowed to hide behind non-state actors… The threat of terrorism persisted unabated while the globe struggled to deal with COVID and its effects. It would be damaging to our security interests if we turned a blind eye to this threat, Mr Jaishankar added.
