Foreign Minister (FM) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari once again talked about India being a different country now and said a lot has changed since 2010, pointing out that the current Indian Prime Minister, (PM) Narendra Modi, is not like his predecessors.
In his address at Washington DC-based think-tank, Woodrow Wilson Centre, the minister stated, “This is a very different India, Modi is not [former PM] Manmohan Singh or even [former PM] Atal Bihari Vajpayee. We want a manageable and responsible relationship with India”, adding that he was not surprised by India’s reaction to the United States’ decision to give $450 million to upgrade Pakistan’s fleet of F-16 aircraft. “Obviously, Indians are going to be upset, let them be, kiya karein (what do we do)”, he said.
Last week, prior to PM Shehbaz’s United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session Bilawal said that, “India today is a changed India and is no longer the secular country promised by its founding fathers for all its citizens.”
While responding to a question from the audience at the Woodrow Wilson Centre that some sections of the media are reporting that the “US schooled Pakistan” on maintaining ties with India and China, Bilawal dismissed the reports, saying “He [US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ] is an incredible human being and can never talk in such tone.”
‘Everything else can wait’: Bilawal urges China and US to work together
At the international forum, the minister also urged the two world powers to cooperate and not fight with each other.
“Let me be absolutely clear. We will not overcome climate change, we will not save our planet, if China and the US do not work together on climate,” said Bhutto-Zardari
“Everything else can wait. Every other conflict. Every other dispute. We will all fight among ourselves if there’s a planet left to fight over,” he added.
Earlier, US Secretary Blinken said that he had urged Pakistan to engage China on some of the important issues of debt relief and restructuring so that Pakistan can more quickly recover from the floods
Addressing these remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that Beijing is already providing assistance to the flood victims and urged that other nations also do “something real and beneficial, instead of passing unwarranted criticism against China-Pakistan cooperation”.
It is pertinent to mention that US is so far the largest donor to flood relief and rehabilitation funds. Washington has provided about $56 million to Pakistan since July.
