Visit to India to attend SCO summit proved 'productive'.

KARACHI: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Thursday informed the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs that decision to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's (SCO) summit held in the Indian city of Goa proved productive and positive for Pakistan.

"As far as the Kashmir issue, bilateral issues between Pakistan and India and the responsibilities of multilateralism are concerned, my conclusion after the trip is that it is productive and positive decision to participate in the event" he said.

"We thought, we should project Pakistan's case and point of view in front of not only Indian but the other participant countries," he informed the committee.

Bilawal said it was also decided not to provide an open opportunity to India.

He said that it was a difficult decision to participate in the event and a lot of work was done by the Foreign Ministry to evolve consensus in that regard. The minister said that former Foreign Secretaries, leaders of allied parties and other stakeholders had been taken on board for their feedback regarding participation in the event in India.

"SCO is a multilateral forum and it provided opportunities to hold meetings with the world leadership and project Pakistan's point of view on various points," he added.

Bilawal said the second point that had been considered for attending the event was that all-weather friend of Pakistan China and Russia were the founder of this organization. He said that SCO had provided an opportunity to highlight Pakistan's narrative as it was the Indian objective to abuse this important forum. He said Pakistan had effectively responded to the Indian narrative of linking terrorism with Pakistan, Muslims and Kashmiris. "The event provided an opportunity to make them understand that I am the son of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto who became a victim of terrorism. People of Pakistan are most affected by terrorism," he added.

He said that Pakistan wanted to fight terrorism in the best interest of the country.

The minister said that positive and productive meetings with all the foreign ministers of the members' countries were held on the sideline of the event.

He said it was decided before leaving for India not to hold bilateral meetings with Indian leadership due to the August 2019 unilateral decision of India. "It is our principled stance that we will not seek a meeting with our Indian counterpart," he added. He was of the view that the SCO meeting also provided an...