No talks with India until IIOJ&K status restored: Bilawal

ISLAMABAD: PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari says it is a matter of great pride for Pakistan to host the SCO summit and its importance can also be gauged from the presence of many world leaders in Pakistan.

Pakistan is proud to host the summit. I had been the foreign minister and I had a lot of involvement and interest last time when I was former foreign minister,” he said while talking to Geo News on Tuesday. “We have been working hard for a long time to host this meeting. When India hosted the SCO, I myself participated in it and my aim at that time was that when we host this summit, we also achieve success so that all countries appreciate our host and in this regard I think that SCO is moving towards success,” he said. The PPP chairman said he was the first foreign minister of Pakistan who went to India after a long time to participate in this meeting, and today the foreign minister of India was in Pakistan in the same way.

“It is a matter of pride for the people and all of us that Pakistan is leading this summit,” he said.

To a question about bilateral relations with India, he said that according to the SCO regulations, bilateral issues could not be addressed or discussed through this forum. “This is the reason why the SCO forum is becoming successful because according to the rules set by them, we do not discuss our bilateral issues through this forum,” he said. However, this forum is a place where delegations or foreign ministers of Pakistan and India can be present despite having strong differences, but everyone has a common vision of SCO.

He said, “We as representatives of Pakistan should fight this case which is India’s narrative or position by which they ignore Pakistan in their foreign policy. Our position is clear that we will not discuss any issue with India until the fundamental status of Kashmir is returned to the first position from 2019.”To a question about the ongoing diplomatic war between Canada and India, he said the accusations being made by Canada against India were very serious because the government representatives of India were directly named in it.“Everyone knows Pakistan’s culture that if they invite someone to their home, then give respect so I would not like to talk about it in detail on this occasion,” he said.To the question about the 26th Amendment, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said it would not be appropriate for him to discuss the constitutional amendment in the SCO discussion.