Not visiting Pakistan to discuss bilateral ties: Jaishankar
A day after the Indian government announced that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will lead the country's delegation to Pakistan for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's Council of Heads of Government on October 15-16, the minister today said he was not going there to discuss India-Pakistan relations but to attend a "multilateral event".
Speaking after Sardar Patel Lecture on Governance in New Delhi, Jaishankar told reporters, "Yes, I am scheduled to go to Pakistan in the middle of this month and that is for the meeting of the SCO -- the heads of government meeting… I expect that there would be a lot of media interest because the very nature of the relationship is such and I think we will deal with it.
"But I do want to say I will be there for a multilateral event, I mean I am not going there to discuss India-Pakistan relations. I am going there to be a good member of the SCO. Since I am a courteous and civil person, I will behave myself accordingly," he said.
Jaishankar pointed out that the SCO Summit is taking place in Islamabad this time and both India and Pakistan are recent members of the Eurasian security and economic grouping led by Russia and China.
In August this year, Pakistan, which holds the rotating chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of Government, had invited all heads of government of the SCO member states, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for the meeting in Islamabad.
This will be the first visit to Pakistan by an Indian External Affairs Minister in nine years. Sushma Swaraj had led the Indian delegation to the Heart of Asia Ministerial Conference on Afghanistan that was held in Islamabad on December 8-9, 2015.
Jaishankar's visit to Pakistan came in the midst of severe strain in ties between India and Pakistan after Islamabad downgraded diplomatic ties with India by pulling out its high commissioner to New Delhi in 2019 following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian constitution by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi government that ended Jammu and Kashmir's special status.
India has maintained that while it favours normal relations with Pakistan the onus is on Islamabad to create an environment free of terror and hostility for such talks.
Comments