Pakistan's top diplomat 'happy' on rare India visit

Pakistan's foreign minister has arrived in India to take part in an international conference, the first official visit by a senior Pakistani official to the country's eastern neighbour since 2016.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is in the Indian coastal resort state of Goa for a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation [SCO] meeting of foreign ministers, along with counterparts from China and Russia.

"I am very happy that today I have arrived here leading the delegation of Pakistan," he told reporters.

Bhutto Zardari gave no indication whether he would hold one-on-one talks with his opposite number in India, but said he hoped the SCO meeting would be "very successful".

"During my visit, which is focused exclusively on the SCO, I look forward to constructive discussions with my counterparts from friendly countries," he tweeted before arriving in Goa.

"Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistan's commitment to the SCO Charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities," said Pakistan's Foreign Ministry.

The Pakistani diplomat's trip has attracted criticism from the main opposition party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf [PTI], which said the visit is meant to please right-wing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

However, his predecessor and PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi backed the visit, hoping that it would not be a "missed opportunity."

The South Asian neighbours have fought three full-fledged wars since they were created at the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, and relations between the nuclear-armed countries have remained tense in recent years, mainly over the disputed territory of Kashmir.

India has stationed over 500,000 troops in the region since 1989 when the popular armed revolt broke out against New Delhi's rule.

Pakistan suspended trade and diplomatic ties with India in 2019, when New Delhi annexed and imposed direct rule on the part of Muslim-majority Kashmir it controls and enforced a heavy security lockdown.

Both countries withdrew their top diplomats and several consular staff were expelled or withdrawn in tit-for-tat measures.

That development came after a military standoff earlier in the year — also centred over Kashmir — that saw both countries launch air strikes and an Indian fighter jet shot down and its pilot captured by Pakistan.

The most recent visit to India by a high-ranking Pakistan diplomat was in 2016, when Sartaj Aziz — then the senior foreign affairs adviser to the prime minister — travelled there.

SCO expansion

India currently holds the rotating presidency of the SCO, a forum established in 2001 that also includes several Central Asian states, rivalling Western institutions.

S Jaishankar, India's foreign minister, met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov ahead of Friday's meeting to discuss ties and "current global and regional agenda topics", a statement from Moscow said.

India's security ties with Russia have put it in an awkward diplomatic position following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Modi's government has walked a tightrope between India's increased security cooperation with Western countries and its reliance on Russia for defence and oil imports.

Jaishankar also sat down with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Thursday, a week after the defence ministers of both nations met in New Delhi to discuss military deployments on their disputed Himalayan frontier.

"Focus remains on resolving outstanding issues and ensuring peace and tranquillity in the border areas," Jaishankar tweeted after the meeting.

The SCO is a political and security union of countries spanning much of Eurasia, including China, India and Russia. Formed in 2001 by Russia, China and ex-Soviet states in Central Asia, the body has been expanded to include India and Pakistan.

The group currently has eight members: Russia, China, Pakistan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, along with four observer states and six dialogue partners, including Türkiye.

The expansion of the group to include Iran and Belarus is one of the main items on the agenda of the one-day meeting on Friday, an Indian Foreign Ministry official said.

Kuwait, Myanmar, the United Arab Emirates and Maldives are likely to be included as dialogue partners, he added.