Foreign Minister Bilawal seeks to repair relations with the United States, blaming Delhi for ‘complicated’ Indo-Pak ties

*Paromita Das

In an effort to repair relations, Pakistan’s new Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari stated at the United Nations on Thursday that he wants a more broad-based relationship with the United States, according to media reports. Pakistan’s leader also blamed India for the two countries’ ‘particularly complicated’ relations. The remarks were made during the leader’s first trip to the US as foreign minister.

“The geopolitical context in our region, particularly the events and circumstances in Afghanistan, has coloured too much of our relationship with the United States.”
“We would like to shift away from a transactional relationship, a one-point agenda relationship, and toward a more broad-based relationship with a particular emphasis on trade,” the FM told reporters.

“Pakistan is not insecure about our relationship with the United States, and we believe that the world is big enough for both Pakistan and India to exist,” the minister said when asked about competing with India in terms of ties with Washington.

Regarding the relationship with India, Bilawal stated that the decision by New Delhi to repeal Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir had made the relationship “particularly complicated.” The minister stated that the “practical space” for dialog, economic activity, and diplomacy is currently “very limited.”
“As far as our relationship with India is concerned, it is particularly complicated” by their recent actions in Kashmir, Bilawal said, referring to the decision to repeal Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and the decision of the delimitation commission in Jammu and Kashmir.