Sharpest swipe yet at Bilawal for promoting Pak terror factory
From the moment Pakistan announced Bilawal Bhutto’s in-person participation at the recent multilateral SCO foreign ministers’ conclave in Goa, it was evident there would be no bilateral component to the visit. He admitted he made the trip only for the SCO engagement, though, in the process, he became Pakistan’s first foreign minister to visit India in 12 years. Even if he had sought bilateral talks, India would have been wary of accepting it since his lame-duck government lacks the mandate to break new ground. Friendship with India is loaded with grave political risks no party or coalition in Pakistan would want to take at this point, as national elections are just months away. Besides, if earnest, such an initiative would have come from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s PML-N and not from coalition partner PPP, whose leader Bilawal is feathering his own nest, hoping to be the next PM. As it stands, opposition leader Imran Khan appears to be the most popular in Pakistan though the militablishment wants his PTI out of power.
At the SCO meet, Bilawal stayed in denial about his country being a global terror factory, mocking India instead for weaponising terrorism to score diplomatic points. The big fireworks began after the conclave as he peddled his fake narrative against the BJP-RSS and issued a not-so-veiled threat to the G20 meeting in Srinagar later this month. “At the time, we will give such a response that it will be remembered,” he bragged to the Pakistani media, reported Dawn. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was scathing in his riposte, characterising Bilawal as a promoter, justifier and spokesperson of the terror industry, adding his positions were called out, including at the SCO meet. He was acidic in criticising Pakistan’s credibility on terror, saying it was dipping faster than its pathetic foreign exchange reserves. Contemptuously brushing aside Bilawal’s peace pitch if J&K’s special powers were restored, he said victims and perpetrators of terror do not sit together to discuss such matters.
That Bilawal neither has the experience, vision, wisdom or grace to explore a bilateral peace accord is evident. His playing the India card for electoral gains was on expected lines. But his immature comments further messed up the Indo-Pak relationship already at its nadir. He ought to be held accountable globally if any major terror attack happens in the run-up to the May 22–24 G20 meet in Srinagar.