Pakistan's Foreign Minister to attend regional meeting in India in May

Announcement ends weeks of speculation over whether Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would attend the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation conference in person

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari at a meeting in Moscow on January 30. Reuters

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari plans to visit India next month to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, his ministry said on Thursday.

His trip will be the first by a senior Pakistani government official to India in nearly a decade.

Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours have been fraught for years. They have fought three wars, two of them over the Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part.

During his trip to India, Mr Bhutto Zardari will attend a meeting of foreign ministers from the organisation in Goa on May 4 to 5, the ministry said.

The organisation is an eight-member political and security bloc that comprises India, Pakistan, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The announcement has ended weeks of speculation over whether Mr Bhutto Zardari would attend the conference in person.

“Our participation in the meeting reflects Pakistan’s commitment to the SCO charter and processes and the importance that Pakistan accords to the region in its foreign policy priorities,” Pakistan Foreign Ministry representative Mumtaz Zahrah Baloch said.

It will be the first visit to India by a senior Pakistani official since former prime minister Nawaz Sharif attended the inauguration of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014.

Mr Bhutto Zardari is the son of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and a former president, Asif Ali Zardari.

India has accused Pakistan for years of helping extremists who have battled Indian troops in its part of Kashmir since the late 1980s.

Pakistan denies the accusation and says it only provides diplomatic and moral support for Kashmiris seeking self-determination.

Violence in the region has eased recently but the neighbours have not held talks on any major issues in years.