Pakistan minister Bilawal Bhutto to visit India tomorrow, attend SCO meeting

The development assumes significance as the visit by Bilawal Butto will be the first such visit from Islamabad since 2011. Hina Rabbani Khar, the then-foreign minister of Pakistan visited India that year.

The visit comes amid new lows in the bilateral relations between India and Pakistan, with both countries having minimum communication channels. The strain in the relations widened after the 2019 Pulwama attack and the subsequent operation by the Indian Air Force in Pakistan’s Balakot.

Pakistan is also not happy with India’s decision to abrogate Articles 370 and 35A from Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and the bifurcation of the state into two union territories.

In December 2022, Bilawal Bhutto faced severe backlash for his comments against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G-77 summit in New York. The remarks drew a sharp response from the Indian government, calling it a new low in the relations between the two countries.

The visit is crucial for economically weak Pakistanwhich is seeking the support of many countries to deal with domestic economic and political issues.

Foreign Ministers of Russia and China are also visiting India for the SCO meeting. China’s foreign minister Qin Gang will share his views with other SCO counterparts, while Russian minister Sergey Lavrov will visit India amid the Russia-Ukraine war.

As the President of SCO, India is holding several meetings of the group before the SCO Leader’s summit which is scheduled in July. Last week, India hosted the defense ministers of all SCO members except Pakistan, who chose to attend the event virtually.