Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto has claimed that PTI Chairman and former Prime Minister Imran Khan failed to strengthen Pakistan’s relations with the US.
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who is currently attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers Meeting, asserted that the government is committed to improving economic ties with all the countries, including the US.
Read more: Consequences of Regime change and Imran Khan’s ouster
Reacting to Imran Khan’s criticism that said relations between Pakistan and the US weakened during the tenure of the coalition government, Foreign Minister Bilawal said, “There is no truth in Imran Khan’s claims.”
“Khan tried to strengthen relations with Washington when he was in power,” Bilawal said while adding, “What is our fault if he failed to boost ties with the US?”
FM @BBhuttoZardari leads 🇵🇰 del to SCO CFM meeting in Tashkent. Together with FMs of #China, #Russia, #Uzbekistan, #Kazakhstan, #Tajikistan, #Kyrgyzstan & #India SCO-CFM will deliberate upon imp regional & int’l issues as well as measures to further strengthen SCO. #PakFMAtSCO pic.twitter.com/ACmFdiIzlR
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan (@ForeignOfficePk) July 29, 2022
Did FM Bilawal meet his Russian counterpart?
Important to note that the previous government has been very critical of the US and its alleged interference in Pakistani politics. The ousted prime minister has maintained that he was removed from power through a US conspiracy since he wanted to pursue an independent foreign policy, particularly one that deepens ties with Russia.
Interestingly, Russian officials and the state media have endorsed Imran Khan’s allegations that he was punished for pursuing an independent foreign policy. Therefore, against this backdrop, all eyes were on the SCO meeting that whether Foreign Minister Bilawal would meet his Russian counterpart.
Read more: Russian view on US conspiracy against Imran Khan
According to the details, the Foreign Office in a statement earlier announced that Foreign Minister Bilawal would be holding bilateral meetings with foreign ministers of China, Russia, and other SCO members, except India. But there was no meeting between Bilawal and Lavrov though the former met foreign ministers of all other member states.
On the other hand, Bilawal and Lavrov did interact informally over dinner for SCO foreign ministers but because of time constraints, no bilateral meeting could be scheduled.
🇷🇺🇮🇳🇰🇿🇰🇬🇨🇳🇵🇰🇹🇯🇺🇿 Heads of delegations at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation #SCO Council of Foreign Ministers Meeting in Tashkent pic.twitter.com/S37AMSk70q
— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) July 29, 2022