Islamabad: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Friday said his visit to Goa was “successful” as he pleaded his country’s case on Indian soil. His comments came hours after his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar accused him of being a “promoter, enabler and spokesperson of a terrorist industry”.
Addressing a press conference after his return from Goa, where he attended a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Bhutto Zardari said that his visit to India was a ‘success’ as it It helped negate the idea that every Muslim was a terrorist. Bhutto-Zardari said, “We tried to break this myth.”
Jaishankar launched an offensive against Bhutto-Zardari in his address to the SCO meeting, contradicting Pakistan’s foreign minister’s statement that terrorism “should not be weaponised for diplomatic point-scoring”, remarks directed at India as seen. At a press conference hours later, Jaishankar said that the Bhutto-Zardari statement on the weaponization of terrorism inadvertently revealed a mindset.
“As foreign minister of an SCO member state, Bhutto-Zardari was treated accordingly. As an enabler, justifyer and spokesman for a terrorism industry that is Pakistan’s mainstay, his positions called for There was and is opposition to them, including at the SCO meeting itself,” Jaishankar said.
Responding to a question about talks with India, Bhutto-Zardari said that Pakistan was clear that India should create a conducive environment for talks by restoring the August 5, 2019 status of Kashmir. He also said that the countries of Central Asia want to be a part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
He said that every country except India has supported and praised CPEC. Earlier, Bhutto-Zardari returned from India on a special Pakistan Air Force plane and landed in Karachi where they were received by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and other cabinet members.