India's external affairs minister S Jaishankar once more criticised Pakistan for its sponsorship of international terrorism as Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto is ready to go into India for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Goa.
Ahead of a likely bilateral meeting with Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang on the margins of SCO, Jaishankar also said India had been trying to advance relations with all countries without seeking exclusivity and that China “falls in a somewhat different category because of the boundary dispute and the currently abnormal nature of our ties”.
“That is an outcome of a violation of agreements regarding border management by them,” he said at an event in the Dominican Republic. “India’s most important priorities are in its neighbourhood. Given its size and economic strength, it’s very much for the collective benefit of everyone that India, under PM Modi, has a generous and nonreciprocal approach to smaller neighbours. It’s known as neighbourhood-first policy,” the minister said. “This has seen a dramatic increase in cooperation, contacts and connectivity in the region. The exception to this is Pakistan in view of the cross-border terrorism it supports,” he added.
Jaishankar targeted Pakistan for the second time during his current trip to Latin America and the Caribbean, highlighting the impossibility of a formal bilateral meeting with Bilawal.
Former Pakistani high commissioner Abdul Basit alleged that India had "informally" requested a meeting with Pakistan; however, government sources in this country vehemently refute this. Both diplomatic sides confirmed that neither party had requested a meeting. Both are anticipated to hold one-on-one conferences with their SCO counterparts.