As part of the May conference of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers, Pakistan’s foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will travel to India. But the terrible terror assault in Poonch, Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed the lives of five Army personnel, raises doubts about the minister’s visit once more.

Hours after Pakistan announced that its foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will be heading a mission to India for a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in May, a terrorist strike in Jammu and Kashmir claimed the lives of five Indian soldiers. The malicious assault now clouds Bilawal’s visit.

Since Hina Rabbani Khar’s visit in 2011, Bilwal’s visit would be the first by a Pakistani foreign minister. Additionally, it would be the first high-level visit by a Pakistani official since Nawaz Sharif’s journey to India in 2014 for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inauguration.

The incident in Poonch on Thursday might only exacerbate the resentment already there in the already icy relations between India and Pakistan.

People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), a terror organisation backed by Jaish, has taken responsibility for the Poonch attack, according to sources. Authorities believe there were four terrorists involved in the crime. Terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed is established in Pakistan.

Bilawal’s visit and India’s position

The SCO foreign ministers’ conference, which India will host in Goa on May 5, will include Pakistan’s foreign minister, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Islamabad announced on Thursday. The government asserted that it would not be proper to highlight a single nation’s involvement in a multilateral event.

The SCO member states have all received similar invites, according to MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi. It wouldn’t be really acceptable, he argued, to consider any one country’s participation.

Numerous terrorist organisations work out of Pakistan and attack civilians and security forces, particularly in the Valley. India has often charged Pakistan with funding terrorism and demanded tough measures against both state-sponsored and non-state actors.

Media reports citing intelligence sources said that Pakistan was preparing grenade strikes on particular locations in Jammu and Kashmir, killings after Eid, and attacks in Srinagar during the G-20 summit. These accusations were published just days before the Poonch attack. According to the assessment, the main targets were expected to be security personnel, political activists, and visitors to the Union Territory who were not from Jammu and Kashmir.

Probably grenades were thrown during the raid in Poonch on April 20.

An Army vehicle was fired upon by terrorists, and the vehicle instantly caught fire, most likely as a result of the deployment of grenades in the attack, according to a statement from the Northern Command.

Impact of Poonch Attack on Bhutto’s Visit?

The Poonch terror assault is expected to have an influence on relations between India and Pakistan, and there is a potential that it would hinder the visit of Pakistan’s foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

The SCO summit in Goa is still two weeks away, but the terror attack on Thursday in Jammu and Kashmir casts doubt on the visit’s spirit, if not the visit itself.

Due to regular terror strikes in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere that are supported by Pakistan, relations between India and Pakistan appear to be beyond repair.

Terror incidents have a clear effect on bilateral partnerships.

The 26/11 Mumbai attacks, which left at least 179 people dead, caused the planned peace talks between India and Pakistan to break up. The horrific assault was carried out by the Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The horrifying attacks, which started on November 26, 2008, lasted for four days and claimed 179 lives while hurting over 300 more.

How Pulwama Attack Modified India-Pakistan Relations

After the 2019 terror incident in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, in which terrorists supported by Pakistan killed at least 40 security officers, relations between India and Pakistan became seriously strained. India responded by conducting cross-border surgical strikes on the Balakot terror sites.

After India repealed Article 370, which granted Jammu and Kashmir its unique status, and divided the state into Union territories in August 2019, ties between the two countries further soured.

One of Jammu and Kashmir’s deadliest terrorist assaults, the Pulwama attack forced India to revoke Pakistan’s “most-favorable nation” (MFN) title. Following the terror attack in Pulwama, the All Indian Cine Workers Association also declared a complete ban on Pakistani actors and artists. A notice from the

After the 2019 terror incident in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, in which terrorists supported by Pakistan killed at least 40 security officers, relations between India and Pakistan became seriously strained. India responded by conducting cross-border surgical strikes on the Balakot terror sites.

After India repealed Article 370, which granted Jammu and Kashmir its unique status, and divided the state into Union territories in August 2019, ties between the two countries further soured.

One of Jammu and Kashmir’s deadliest terrorist assaults, the Pulwama attack forced India to revoke Pakistan’s “most-favorable nation” (MFN) title. Following the terror attack in Pulwama, the All Indian Cine Workers Association also declared a complete ban on Pakistani actors and artists. A notice from the

The invitation extended by India to Pakistan’s foreign minister is significant given the historically poor level of relations between the two countries. This is due to the fact that there was room for improvement when the Sharif and Bhutto families took control of Islamabad’s administration.

Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, stated that his country wants to coexist peacefully with India and asked for “serious and sincere talks” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on “burning issues like Kashmir” in January of this year.

Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, was present for the formal swearing-in of Narendra Modi in 2014 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. Most people saw Sharif’s visit to be a “ice-breaker” between the nuclear-armed rivals.

In 2015, on a surprise trip to Pakistan, PM Modi arrived in Lahore and met with Nawaz Sharif. This was the first trip to Pakistan by an Indian premier in more than a decade. Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Lahore in 2015, there have been no negotiations between India and Pakistan.

What Will India Do Next?

In keeping with its “Neighbourhood First Policy,” India has long wished for cordial relations between its two neighbouring countries. India has made it clear that both nations should resolve disagreements in a setting devoid of terrorism and hostility, and that Pakistan bears responsibility for fostering such a setting.

India has repeatedly stated that it won’t make concessions on matters pertaining to national security and that it will respond to any attempts to undermine its security and territorial integrity by taking forceful and decisive action.

One such chance for the two nations to interact on a multilateral forum is the May SCO foreign ministers conference in Goa. The Poonch attack, though, might throw a wrench in the plan. It will be interesting to see how Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s trip to India turns out.