Speaking at the upper house of the Pakistani Parliament on Thursday, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar said that New Delhi and Islamabad have not held backchannel talks.
Khar’s Comments
The Pakistani minister said that while there were no such discussions “at this moment,” result-oriented diplomatic talks were desirable.
However, she criticised India for its “provocative steps” that strained ties between the two countries and gave Pakistan “conflagratory” messages. “Right now, the cross-border hostility is of a unique type,” she added.
#Video Pakistan's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar said the BBC documentary banned by India had vindicated the viewpoint of Pakistan that Gujarat massacre was carried out under the nose of Narendra Modi. No backchannel diplomacy was taking place with India. pic.twitter.com/ouIP9JSorD
— Ghulam Abbas Shah (@ghulamabbasshah) January 26, 2023
To this end, she said that while Pakistan is keen on “unleashing the potential” of the region, India’s actions bar healthy discussions on pressing issues.
Context
The statement came amid discontent surrounding Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif expressing his willingness to talk to Indian PM Narendra Modi about the Kashmir conflict. Declaring that Islamabad “learnt [its] lesson,” Sharif said last week that Pakistan’s three wars (1965, 1971, and 1999) with India only caused “extra distress, poverty, and unemployment.”
"India is our neighbor country & let be very blunt. Even if we are not neighbor by choice, but we are thr forever. It is upto us to live peacefully & progress or quarrel with each other and waste time and resources", says Pak PM.
— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) January 17, 2023
Sharif soon stepped back from the statement, highlighting that discussions with India can only begin once it reverses its 2019 decision to abrogate the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
India Invites Pakistan FM for SCO Meet
A day before Khar’s statement, media reports emerged suggesting that India has extended an invite to Pakistani Foreign Minister (FM) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial to attend the foreign ministers and chief justices’ meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Goa in May.
Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch confirmed that while India had sent Pakistan an invite for May’s meet, Islamabad will decide on its attendance in due course. However, she played down the meaning behind the invite, saying that as a chair of the grouping, India had to send an invite to all the members.
Pakistan & India are members of SCO. India is holding the chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of State for 2022-2023. These invitations are being processed as per standard procedures and a decision will be taken in due course: Spokesperson, Pakistan Foreign Affairs Ministry https://t.co/VuHAmV9y0I
— ANI (@ANI) January 26, 2023
If Pakistan accepts the invitation, Bilawal will be the first Pakistani FM to visit India in the past 12 years. Interestingly, Khar was the last Pakistani FM to visit India.
India took over as the chair of the nine-member grouping in September 2022. It will host a series of meetings throughout the year, including defence minister-, national security advisor-, and environment minister-level meetings.