Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, greeted India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar with a namaste, a traditional Indian greeting, at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Goa. Bilawal called it a “civilised” way to welcome each other. The Indian foreign minister also greeted other foreign ministers, including China’s Qin Gang, with a namaste instead of a handshake. Bilawal praised Jaishankar, saying that he never made him feel like bilateral ties between India and Pakistan impacted their engagement at the SCO meeting.
During the summit, Bilawal addressed several major issues, including the special status of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, terrorism, and China’s role in bridging differences between Saudi Arabia and Iran. He warned SCO member states against “weaponising terrorism for diplomatic point scoring”, saying that the idea of eradicating terrorism requires a collective approach and that practical solutions exist to put an end to this issue once and for all.
“The root causes need to be addressed as well as the threats posed by specific groups,” he said. “We must stop conflating non-state actors with state actors. Condemn all forms of terrorism, including state-sponsored terrorism,” he added.
The meeting between foreign ministers began at the Taj Exotica Resort on Thursday evening, with a reception hosted by Jaishankar, and the main deliberations took place on Friday.
