With Bilawal Bhutto as Foreign Minister, can India hope for better ties with Pakistan?

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has been sworn in as the new foreign minister of Pakistan by President Arif Alvi. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other prominent leaders were also present on this occasion. Bilawal Bhutto is the chairman of the Pakistan People's Party.

He was elected as an MP for the first time in 2018, and now he will hold the post of a cabinet minister for the first time in Shehbaz Sharif government. His father Asif Ali Zardari has been the President of Pakistan and mother Benazir Bhutto was the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

Bilawal's sister Bakhtawar Bhutto tweeted, "Today in this unity government, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will take oath as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan. We are proud of him. He has proved his superiority in the Parliament and has always stood by his democratic values. Excited to see him next."

Read | From exile to Pakistan’s youngest foreign minister, the journey of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

Bilawal Bhutto came to Delhi with his father on April 8, 2012. From here he went to Ajmer. At that time he wrote on Twitter, "My mother once said that somewhere in every Pakistani, lives India and in the heart of every Indian lives a small Pakistan." He posted it with the So True hashtag. 

During his India visit, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had offered prayers at the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer Sharif. After this he had said that coming here was a very peaceful and spiritual experience. The first challenge before Bilawal Bhutto is the relationship between Pakistan and the United States.

As Pakistan's foreign minister he will have the task of rebuilding strained ties with the US, which were hurt by Imran Khan's repeated allegations about the Joe Biden administration being part of a 'foreign conspiracy' to oust his government. The US has rubbished Khan's allegations.

Apart from this, how he will be able to take forward relations with India, will definately test his skills. Bilawal Bhutto has said that everyone should understand that this is not a simple coalition government. In Pakistan, the Muslim League (Nawaz) and the Pakistan People's Party were once considered rivals.

Now Bilawal has been made a minister in the Shehbaz Sharif government. A few days ago, Bilawal had met Nawaz Sharif, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, in London. On the relations between India and Pakistan, Bilawal had said that many people in both the countries are living in poverty while we spend so much money on nuclear weapons to destroy each other.