Islamabad, Dec 23: Pakistan’s ties with India, nearly frozen since 2019, touched a new low this year when Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari made an “uncivilised” outburst against the Indian leadership, dashing any hope for the resumption of early engagements between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Pakistan had downgraded its diplomatic relations with India, reducing the presence of diplomatic staff in the Indian capital, and severed trade links following New Delhi’s decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019.
The only positive development recorded since then has been the restoration of a crucial ceasefire agreement on the highly volatile Line of Control (LoC) in February 2021, which kindled a frail feeling for more such steps in days to come. The ensuing months, however, showed that it was yet another mirage.
This year saw no improvement in bilateral ties as India accused Pakistan of cross-border infiltration and re-activation of terror-launching pads near the LoC. Pakistan, however, alleged that India supported terrorist groups in the country.
Foreign Minister Bilawal resorted to a personal attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and slammed the RSS after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told a UN Security Council meeting that the “contemporary epicentre of terrorism” remains very much active and called for collective action to tackle them. Though Jaishankar did not name any countries, it was apparent that he was making a veiled reference to Pakistan.
In a strong condemnation of Bilawal’s remarks, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Arindam Bagchi said the Pakistan foreign minister’s “frustration” would be better directed towards the masterminds of terrorist enterprises in his own country” that has made terrorism a part of their “state policy”.
