- Thursday, April 24, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Pakistani foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Friday (5) said on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in the Indian state of Goa that New Delhi’s decision to end Jammu and Kashmir’s special status has affected the environment for holding talks between the two neighbours.
He also said that sporting ties between the two nations should not suffer as a result of politics and foreign policy.
The Narendra Modi government had in August 2019 revoked the special status that Jammu and Kashmir got under Article 370 of the country’s constitution and split it into two federally controlled areas — Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Pakistan slammed the move as illegal.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the SCO diplomats’ meeting at a resort in Benaulim, Goa, Bhutto-Zardari said the onus is on India to create an environment conducive for talks.
The Pakistan People’s Party leader is the first senior leader from Pakistan to visit India in almost a decade and the first foreign minister of his country to set foot in India in 12 years. Bhutto-Zardari said despite his rare visit to India, there was no change in the status of the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
The two neighbours currently share frosty relations owing to a host of factors related to terrorism and Jammu and Kashmir.
The Pakistani diplomat also said that politics and foreign policy should not hold “hostage” sporting ties between the two nations.
While cricket has been wildly popular on both sides of the border and has served as a basis of goodwill between India and Pakistan in the past, the current situation has seen even the sport facing uncertainty.
There are doubts whether the Pakistani cricket team would travel to India for the 50-over cricket world cup later this year. India has also refused to go to Pakistan for the Asia Cup preceding the big tournament and the schedule of that tournament is also to be sorted.
“I hope we’re in a position to not have sports suffer as a result of foreign policy,” Bhutto-Zardari said when asked if Pakistan would send its team to India for the world cup.
Pakistan last played in India in 2016 while the last time India went to Pakistan for cricket was in 2008.
(With Reuters inputs)
