Pakistan: PTI vice president criticises Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto's visit to India

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice President Fawad Chaudhry on Friday (April 21) criticised Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto's decision to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in India next month. Taking to Twitter, Hussain said Bhutto's visit to India was equivalent to stabbing the Kashmiris in the back. Hussain added that seeking ties with India while burying the Kashmir issue was part of a foreign agenda.

He further said that the PTI never opposed the support relation with India and other countries, but relationships should be based on equality and fundamental issues must be resolved.

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The PTI leader's tweet comes a day after Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto said that his participation in SCO in India's Goa reflected Pakistan's commitment to the charter of the SCO and should not be seen in terms of bilateral ties.

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

"We are committed to the SCO charter and this visit should not be seen as a bilateral one but in the context of the SCO," Bhutto said during a program on Dunya News on Thursday.

Sharing Pakistan`s past experience at the SCO summit in Uzbekistan, Bilawal said the country did not hold any bilateral talks in the past as well.

Bhutto would be the first Pakistani foreign minister to visit India after a gap of nearly 12 years. The previous visit was in 2011 by then-foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar.

In January, India extended an invitation to him along with all other member states of the SCO to attend the meeting.

On Thursday, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said that Bhutto was attending the meeting at the invitation of External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar.

Addressing a press conference, Baloch said, "Our participation at the meeting reflects Pakistan's continued commitment to the SCO charter and process and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities."

Relations between India and Pakistan have been fraught for years regarding the issue of cross-border terrorism from Pakistan.

Kamran Yousaf, a senior political analyst in Pakistan, said that Bilawal Bhutto's upcoming India visit would be seen as an ice-breaking move, the news agency IANS reported on Thursday.

"It will be symbolically significant. Though it may not bring any dramatic changes in bilateral relationships," Yousaf added.

(With inputs from agencies)

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