Pakistan FM Bilawal Bhutto in India: All you need to know about SCO Foreign Ministers' meet

Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Foreign Ministers' meeting in Goa from May 4-5. However, there is no plan for a bilateral meeting between India's Minister of External Affair S Jaishankar and Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, news agency PTI reported. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's visit to India comes days after the Poonch attack. 

On April 20, unidentified terrorists fired upon an army vehicle passing the Bhimber Gali and Poonch areas in the Rajouri sector through grenades. The attack claimed the lives of five Indian Army soldiers.  Moreover, Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov will also participate in the meeting. Jaishankar will hold separate bilateral talks with his Chinese and Russian counterparts in Goa. 

Here's what you need to know ahead of the SCO Foreign Ministers' meeting in Goa: 

1. The bilateral meeting between Jaishankar and Qin Gang will be second one in two months after G20 foreign ministers meeting in March. 

2. Jaishankar is likely convey in this meeting that India-China relations cannot be normal unless there is peace in border areas. 

3. India-China ties have nosedived significantly following the fierce clash in the Galwan Valley clash in June 2020. 

4. India has maintained its position that relationship between the two countries should be based on "three mutuals"-- mutual respect, mutual sensitivity, and mutual interests. 

5. Jaishankar and Lavrov will review the overall bilateral ties with trade and commercial engagement being the focal points. 

6. Lavrov's arrival in India comes at a time when the tension between Russia and Ukraine has peaked significantly. 

7. On Wednesday, Russia accused Ukraine of attacking the Kremlin with drones in an unsuccessful attempt to kill President Vladimir Putin. 

8. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's trip is the first visit to India by a Pakistani Foreign Minister ever since Hina Rabbani Khar met the former Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna in 2011. Khar is currently serving as the minister of state for foreign affairs. 

9. This will also be the first high-level visit from Pakistan after Pakistan's Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz visited India in December 2016. 

10. India and Pakistan's relationships have been very strained since the Balakot air strike by the Indian defence forces in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack. 

11. This is also the first visit by any Pakistani leader since 2014 when former PM Nawaz Sharif visited India to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony. 

12. The bilateral relationship between India and Pakistan further went downhill after India announced the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019. 

(With agency inputs)

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