New Delhi: Addressing his scheduled to visit Pakistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)’s heads of government meeting later this month, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar clarified that he was “not going there to discuss India-Pakistan relations”.
“I do want to say it will be for a multilateral event. I mean, I’m not going there to discuss India-Pakistan relations, I’m going there to be a good member of the SCO. But, you, know, because I’m a courteous and civil person, I will behave myself accordingly,” Jaishankar said.
Speaking to the media after delivering a lecture on governance in Delhi on Saturday (October 5), Jaishankar also stated that he expected there would be much media interest in his visit as “the very nature of the [bilateral] relationship is such”.
Apart from India, the SCO comprises Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Belarus.
India had joined the SCO in 2017 with two aims in mind: expanding interaction with central Asian countries and influencing regional security policies.
Traditionally, while the prime minister has always attended the SCO’s annual heads of state summit, a senior minister or the vice president have represented the country at the SCO’s heads of government summit.
But as Prime Minister Narendra Modi skipped the heads of state summit in Kazakhstan this year and India convened last year’s summit virtually, India has little choice but to participate in the Pakistan summit, as another absence on its part would be seen as a snub to Russia.
Jaishankar will be the first external affairs minister to go to Pakistan – with whom bilateral relations have been at a standstill – since Sushma Swaraj’s visit in December 2015.
Last year, Pakistani foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto visited Goa for the SCO’s foreign ministers’ summit. The visit was marked by tension, culminating in a sharp exchange of words between Bhutto and Jaishankar.
The Pakistan summit is scheduled to take place in the capital city of Islamabad on October 15 and 16.
When asked yesterday what Jaishankar’s participation would involve, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said he did not “have a clear idea at this point in time”.
Jaiswal also said that India’s focus during the visit “is on the SCO; this visit is for the SCO meeting. Please do not think about it beyond this.”
