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A Pakistani delegation led by erstwhile Pakistan Foreign Minister and president of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari arrived successful London connected Sunday (June 9, 2025) nighttime from Washington, arsenic portion of Islamabad’s diplomatic outreach pursuing caller hostilities betwixt India and Pakistan.
Islamabad’s diplomatic exercise, comprising 2 delegations, was announced aft New Delhi announced that it would nonstop 7 delegations to satellite capitals to convey its outrage connected the April 22 panic onslaught successful Pahalgam successful which 26 civilians, astir each Indian men, were changeable dormant by terrorists.
India has besides sought to explicate ‘Operation Sindoor’, its retaliatory strikes connected panic infrastructure successful Pakistan and the consequent equipped struggle betwixt the 2 countries.
Both countries’ delegations had overlapped past week successful Washington. Pakistan is seeking planetary engagement successful the struggle and a reversal of India’s determination to clasp the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 successful abeyance.
The Pakistani delegation successful London included 3 different erstwhile overseas ministers: Jalil Abbas Jilani, Khuran Dastagir Khan (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz oregon PML-N) and Hina Rabbani Khar (PPP). It besides included PPP vice-chair Sherry Rehman (PPP), Climate curate Musadik Masoor Malik (PML-N) and Adeel Mumtaz who directs the India table astatine the Pakistani overseas ministry. Members of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf enactment were not portion of the group.
The delegation was scheduled to talk on-the-record astatine the deliberation vessel IISS. It was besides scheduled to talk disconnected the grounds connected Monday greeting astatine Chatham House, anterior to the IISS event, and clasp meetings astatine the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) successful the day according to a root acquainted with the delegation schedule. The delegation is expected to question to Brussels aft London.
Ahead of their closed doorway bilateral discussions successful New Delhi connected Saturday, India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had told his UK counterpart David Lammy that India practiced a “zero tolerance policy” with respect to coercion and “expected its partners to recognize it”.
In London, Washington and different capitals, India’s delegations had been keen to emphasise, past week, that determination could beryllium nary equivalence betwixt the perpetrators of panic and its victims.
New Delhi has besides pushed backmost against immoderate 3rd enactment involution successful the struggle betwixt India and Pakistan, astir notably U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated insistence that helium brokered the May 10 ceasefire betwixt the countries and utilized commercialized arsenic leverage to execute it.
Mr Lammy remarks successful a May 17 Reuters interview from Islamabad, successful which helium had said the U.K. and U.S. were moving connected an enduring ceasefire successful the region, had raised eyebrows successful New Delhi.
Published - June 09, 2025 03:37 p.m. IST
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