Pakistan Ministry Spokesperson Announces FM Bilawal Bhutto Zardari To Attend SCO Meet In Goa

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Pakistan's Foreign Minister, will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's foreign ministers' meeting in Goa on 4-5 May, as per the Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch.

The scheduled meeting is still two weeks away, but the recent terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir has cast doubts on the visit, particularly since it occurred just hours after the announcement by Islamabad.

The response from authorities in both New Delhi and Islamabad will determine the outcome. If Delhi decides to take a tough stance, this could threaten the Pakistan Foreign Minister's visit - which would be the first since 2016.

Five soldiers lost their lives and one was injured on 20 April, after their vehicle was fired upon by terrorists in the Rajouri sector of Jammu.

According to the reports, top intelligence sources told CNN-News18 on Thursday that Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was behind the Poonch terror attack.

“This attack was done by Lashkar. This group is sitting in Rajouri and Poonch jungles for a period of time. They come out, commit the crime and go back to their places. Earlier, they also attacked a house in Rajouri," intelligence sources said, reported News18.

As per the report, the last visit of this nature occurred in December 2016 when Pakistan's Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz went to Amritsar for the Heart of Asia conference. However, no bilateral meeting transpired as India's Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj was unwell at the time.

Back in May 2014, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, made a visit to India to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In July 2011, the former Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Hina Rabbani Khar, paid a visit to India and engaged in a bilateral meeting with the then External Affairs Minister, S M Krishna.

India's last visit to Pakistan by a Foreign Minister took place in December 2015, when Swaraj travelled to Islamabad to attend the Heart of Asia conference. This was shortly followed by a surprise visit to Lahore by Prime Minister Modi in the same month.