ICC promptly diverts Champions Trophy tour away from PoK cities after BCCI’s objections
The original tour schedule included cities like Skardu, Hunza and Muzaffarabad, which fall in the PoK region, a disputed territory between India and Pakistan.
Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday met his Chinese counterpart Qin Gang on the sidelines of the Shangai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)- Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) meeting in Goa.
The Pakistan foreign minister said Pakistan and China will continue to work together on regional peace and prosperity of their people. “Delighted to meet Chinese State Councilor & FM Qin Gang @AmbQinGang on the sidelines of SCO-CFM at Goa. Pakistan & China are iron brothers & will continue to work together for regional peace & prosperity of our peoples. Looking forward to welcoming him in Islamabad,” Bilawal tweeted on Friday.
Bilawal visited Goa to attend the SCO CFM meeting. With this, he becomes the first Pakistani foreign minister to visit India in almost 12 years.
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Bilawal on Friday called the SCO a platform of mutual understanding and security. He said that the potential for peace can be unlocked when great powers play the role of peacemakers.
The Pakistan foreign minister was addressing the SCO-Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Goa.
In his keynote address at SCO Foreign Ministers’ meeting, Zardari urged to collectively eradicate the menace of terrorism. “Let’s not get caught up in weaponising terrorism for diplomatic point scoring,” he said.
This comes after Jaishankar talked about cross-border terrorism in his opening address at the SCO meet and underlined how it continues “unabated”. He added by saying that the terrorism must be stopped in all its forms and manifestations, including cross-border terrorism.
Reiterating Pakistan’s commitment to multilateralism, Bilawal further added “Unilateral and illegal measures by States in violation of international law and Security Council resolutions run counter to the SCO objectives.”
Relations between India and Pakistan have been precarious for many years with regard to issues of cross-border terrorism from Pakistan, even as Islamabad has been seeking the restoration of Article 370 for the former Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir for any talks.
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