S Jaishankar, India’s foreign minister, has labelled his Pakistani counterpart, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, as “promoter, justifier and spokesperson of a terrorism industry”.
Following the meeting of foreign ministers of member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Goa, Jaishankar remarked: “Victims of terrorism do not sit together with its perpetrators to discuss terrorism.”
“Bhutto Zardari came as Foreign Minister of a SCO member state; that’s part of multilateral diplomacy and we don’t see anything more than that,” NDTV quoted the Indian foreign minister as saying.
The SCO meeting was held in Goa, India, on May 4 and 5, and Bhutto Zardari arrived in India on Thursday.
At the SCO Council, the two foreign ministers did not meet separately.
In a clear swipe at Pakistan’s financial crisis, Jaishankar also remarked: “On terrorism, Pakistan’s credibility is depleting even faster than its forex reserves.”
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Jaishankar’s comments came after Bhutto Zardari warning against “weaponising terrorism for diplomatic point scoring”, without naming India, during his address at the SCO summit.