Jaishankar, India’s foreign minister, has labelled his Pakistani counterpart, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, as “promoter, justifier and spokesperson of a terrorism industry”.
Following the meeting of foreign ministers of member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Goa, Jaishankar remarked: “Victims of terrorism do not sit together with its perpetrators to discuss terrorism.”
“Bhutto Zardari came as Foreign Minister of a SCO member state; that’s part of multilateral diplomacy and we don’t see anything more than that,” NDTV quoted the Indian foreign minister as saying.
The SCO meeting was held in Goa, India, on May 4 and 5, and Bhutto Zardari arrived in India on Thursday.
At the SCO Council, the two foreign ministers did not meet separately. In a clear swipe at Pakistan’ financial crisis, Jaishankar also remarked: “On terrorism, Pakistan’s credibility is depleting even faster than its forex reserves.”
Jaishankar’s comments came after Bhutto Zardari warning against “weaponising terrorism for diplomatic point scoring”, without naming India, during his address at the SCO summit.