Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch has ruled out the possibility of any behind the scene discussion regarding the revival of bilateral ties between Pakistan and India, saying neither such a conversation happened nor the media should highlight it.

“As I have said it before, there was no discussion on that, and the media should not read that,” she said while speaking to Munizae Jahangir of Aaj News in Goa.

It was expected that a fresh round of talks would begin between Pakistan and India after both the foreign minister shook hands and exchanged greetings at dinner during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM).

The informal interaction between Pakistan’s Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was widely covered by the media of both countries.

Commenting on the interaction during the SCO dinner, Baloch said that it was nothing but a ‘regular feature of the SCO’.

“It was also a regular feature, where the hosts conduct a dinner in the honour of the incoming foreign ministers,” she said. “That was in that context. There was no political agenda discussed there, it was a regular interaction.”

She refused to comment when asked about Jaishankar’s statement regarding cross-border terrorism. “This is something that you can ask him, that what he was referring to.”

“As far as our statement is concerned the Foreign Minister’s speech was measured and focused,” she said. “It featured Pakistan’s priorities. Our foreign minister also highlighted how Pakistan suffered from terrorism and he himself was a victim,” Mumtaz said.

She went on to add that the FM also highlighted Pakistan’s priorities in terms of regional connectivity and cooperation of Pakistan in the region regarding climate change.

When asked about Pakistan’s participation in SCO hosted by India, she said that Pakistan has clarity on this. “I think we have the clarity on this that this is the SCO forum, which takes place every year, and Pakistan regularly participates in it. This is again a similar kind of a session and we know how it is. Our tip is all choreographed accordingly.”

Sharing details of Bilawal’s meeting with the Russian counterpart, Mumtaz said that they discussed many things including the energy crisis. “There was a discussion on Afghanistan, regional security. The main thing is that the security of Afghanistan and both Pakistan and Russia discussed how they can play a role in that using SCO platform.”