The question is, did he fail to do what he was sent to do? After watching Dr Pizada’s recent blog the answer has to be No. he did what he was sent to do.
1. Be present (as part of a Chinese led SCO meeting) and smile at the Indians like a rock in their hegemonic designs, as a representative of Pakistan. (I would have hoped he didn’t do the Namaste greeting, and did something else).
2. He gave a boilerplate speech, probably prepared by the foreign ministry.
3. He got under the Indian foreign minister’s skin, because regardless of party, at least Bilawal spoke the same line as SMQ would have if this meeting had been held 18 months earlier. On some key matters the national viewpoint across the political spectrum is the same. Also, Bilawal is the seen as preferred by the west, so that made it sting a bit more.
This is not be an endorsement of Bilalwal. Rather the opposite and to say he is the perfect representative of the PDM government to the world. The results of the last year of his diplomatic efforts speak for themselves.
Wait till india hold the G20 meeting in Kashmir and see how impotent Pakistan’s protestations will appear. While Pakistan has been mired in decades of ups and downs, India has been methodical. Pakistan can’t have an amateur when it needs either seasoned veterans or amazing younger talent, and we need at least a generation of stability before we can push back in a big way. Small initiatives and marketing ploys won’t work without the weight of a large economy behind it.
It would have been better if Hina Rabbani khar had been sent.
