After Nine Years, India’s Foreign Minister Visits Pakistan For SCO Summit (image-twitter/DrSJaishankar)
After nine years, Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar will be the first to travel to the neighboring country Pakistan. He will attend a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in mid-October.
The last foreign minister who visited Pakistan was Sushma Swaraj when she traveled to Islamabad in December 2015 to attend a conference on Afghanistan. On December 25, that year Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Lahore for a meeting with Nawaz Sharif and it was a surprise visit on his way home from Russia via Afghanistan.
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Pakistan had downgraded its ties with India following the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, ending the special status given to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Even before, their relationship had already dived following the February 14 Pulwama terror attack and the Balakot air strikes.
Pakistan will host the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) meeting on October 15 and 16.
In August, Pakistan said it had extended invitations to all heads of government of the SCO member states, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the meeting in Islamabad.
The spokesperson has clarified that the external minister is traveling to Pakistan only to attend the SCO summit. Nevertheless, the decision to send the senior leader is a major decision on New Delhi’s part.
Last year, India hosted various SCO-related events and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was the first Pakistani foreign minister to travel to India after 12 long years for a meeting.
The upcoming SCO meeting is crucial as it will test whether the organization can maintain cohesion and continue functioning effectively despite these bilateral challenges.
The SCO, comprising India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, is an influential economic and security bloc that has emerged as one of the largest trans-regional international organisations.
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The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Pakistan and India became permanent members in 2017.
