Jaishankar to meet China, Russia ministers, but talks with Bilawal Bhutto unlikely

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The air in south Goa remained abuzz with media frenzy over the scheduled arrival of Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Thursday for the meeting of SCO foreign ministers, even though a formal bilateral meeting with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar seemed unlikely. Neither side, according to diplomatic sources, had proposed a meeting till late on Wednesday although the possibility of a “pull-aside” wasn’t entirely ruled out.

Official sources did confirm Jaishankar will meet his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang on Thursday for what will be their second bilateral engagement in two months. Qin, who will be among the first to land here on Thursday, had met Jaishankar in March on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting.

The meeting is expected to take place before Jaishankar formally kicks off the SCO meeting with a gala “informal” dinner and a cultural programme on the private beach of a south Goa resort. Along with Jaishankar, his counterparts from all other member-states of the Eurasian group – Russia, China, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan – will participate in the dinner.

Jaishankar’s bilateral with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov is also expected to take place on Thursday. Jaishankar is expected to use his meeting with Qin to further emphasise on the need for early disengagement and de-escalation in eastern Ladakh. In the presence of Qin and Bilawal at the SCO meeting on Friday, Jaishankar, while expressing support for better connectivity in the region, is also expected to underscore India’s point that such initiatives must not violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of any member-state. The SCO meeting on Friday will also look to finalise the agenda for the summit India will host in July.

On Thursday though, all eyes will be on Bilawal who is expected to land here late afternoon. A formal bilateral meeting is unlikely, but both sides haven’t ruled the possibility of a meeting in passing, or at least an exchange of pleasantries with Jaishankar at the dinner on Thursday.

While the visit is significant in that it comes 12 years after the last time a Pakistan foreign minister came to India, it holds little hope of ending the freeze in ties, unlike in 2015 when a visit by then foreign minister Sushma Swaraj to Pakistan led to the launch of the short-lived comprehensive bilateral dialogue. That visit in 2015 though was preceded by a short meeting between PM Narendra Modi and his then counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Paris and a meeting of the NSAs in Bangkok.

Bilawal’s deputy Khar was quoted as saying that Bilawal would have gone even to Timbuktu to participate in a meeting of SCO. The Indian government has itself maintained all along that the invite to Bilawal was a formality necessitated by the SCO Charter and not a bilateral outreach. (TOI)