Exclusive: It's not India visit but SCO visit, Pak minister Hina Rabbani on FM Bhutto attending SCO meeting

Ahead of Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto's India visit toparticipate in a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), WIONs Pakistan Bureau Chief Anas Mallick spoke toHinaRabbaniKhar, the country's minister of state for foreign affairs. When quizzed if the timing was right for Bhutto's visit, especially in the current politically charged climate, Khar said it was not an India visit, but an SCO visit.

"The most important thing to notice here is the chairperson of PPP has chosen to be the foreign minister of Pakistan and he takes his job very seriously, so what might not be the politically right thing to do, or the popular thing to do, but it is the correct thing to do as far Pakistan’s interests are concerned," said Khar in an exclusive interview.

"Within the same line, why the India visit? It is not an India visit, It must not be seen as an India visit. It’s an SCO visit. SCO happens to be an organisation - before [India and Pakistan] becoming full members , therewas a precondition that bilateral disputes or issues should not come in the way of SCO work."

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WATCH |Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto to attend SCO meeting in Goa, India

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"This is not a bilateral visit. It is a visit to SCO event which is in Goa where the foreign minister is going. If it was in Timbuktu, the foreign minister would be going, If it was in Washington DC, the foreign minister would be going. The foreign minster is going to an SCO event and that is the reality of it."

She added that since the SCO was set up, Pakistan's FM had been attending every ministerial meeting and thus it did not make sense to sit out a meeting of such importance.

Notably, this will be the first time that a Pakistan foreign minister will be visiting India since Khar herself visited the country in 2011. Moreover, after former PM Nawaz Sharif's visit in 2014 for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony, this will be the first high-level visit by a Pakistani leader.

ALSO READ |'Visit should not be...': Pakistan FM Bilawal Bhutto on attending SCO meet in India

Pakistan may raise the Kashmir issue

When pressed if Pakistan will be raising the Kashmir issue as it had been doing on most global platforms, Khar said her government only talked about the reality of the region.

"As far as what should we read into it or should we expect, you can expect anything you wish. You can be delusional and expect anything you wish, but as I have already categorically mentioned, there is no bilateral element in this visit."

"Kashmir is not a Pakistan problem. Kashmir is a problem. It doesn’t become a problem if we say it is a problem, it is a problem because we recognise [it at] the highest international body UNSC as a dispute between the two countries, and this dispute was not taken to the security council by Pakistan, it was taken by India," she added.

"So when it comes to talking about Kashmir, anywhere everywhere, Pakistan brings out the reality of Kashmir and Pakistan will continue to do so."

India took over the chairmanship of the SCO grouping last year after the Samarkand edition. New Delhi on April 27 and 28 chaired the SCO defence ministers' meet, with Pakistan's defence minister giving the event a slip.

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