Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who is currently attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers meeting, asserted that Pakistan has no plans of holding any bilateral meeting with India.
Bilawal held six bilateral meetings with foreign ministers of Central Asian countries on the sidelines of the conference, which is being held in connection with preparations for the SCO Heads of State meeting scheduled to be held in September.
Bilawal held meetings with his counterparts from Afghanistan, China, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan.
“There are no plans of any meetings between Indian and Pakistani prime ministers in September,” Bilawal told a foreign media outlet, adding that both India and Pakistan are part of the SCO and the two countries are only engaged in the context of the broad-based activities of the organisation.
When asked about criticism by Imran Khan of the coalition government for its alleged weak relations with the US, the foreign minister said: “There is no truth to Imran Khan’s claims.”
“Khan tried to strengthen relations with Washington when he was in power,” he said, adding: “What is our fault if he failed to boost ties with the US?”
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has invited Bilawal to visit Moscow.
According to media reports, the invitation was extended by Lavrov during his brief informal interaction with Bilawal during the SCO meeting in Tashkent.
A bilateral meeting was scheduled between the two foreign ministers, but the late arrival of Lavrov to Tashkent led to the cancellation of the meeting.
PTI leader Fawad Chaudry claimed that Lavrov refused to meet Bilawal. Sources, however, rubbished such assertions.
