The Indian government confirmed on Friday that S Jaishankar will represent India at the SCO heads-of-government conference in Islamabad on October 15–16. This will mark the first time in nine years that an Indian foreign minister will visit Pakistan.
Pakistan had invited Prime Minister Modi to the conference, as TOI had first reported on August 25. But since Modi’s involvement in the SCO was limited to the summit of chiefs of state, the main concern was always whether he would propose Jaishankar, who has attended previous sessions of the SCO.
India also had the option to send a junior minister or participate virtually. Not much should be read into min’s Pak trip: MEA
Foreign minister Jaishankar’s visit to Pakistan later this month, although it’s for SCO summit and can’t be seen as a peace outreach, opens the possibility of a rare high-level visit from India to Islamabad at a time when ties remain downgraded since the revocation of special status of J&K in Aug 2019.
The decision to send Jaishankar is significant as India had the option of sending a junior minister or participating virtually. Jaishankar had said recently that India is not passive on Pakistan and will react accordingly to both positive and negative developments. Whether or not there’s a bilateral meeting with Pakistan foreign minister Ishaq Dar is likely to depend more on the host.
India’s last high commissioner to Pakistan, Ajay Bisaria, said the ball is now firmly in Pakistan’s court as by sending Jaishankar India has made a bold move, signaling its desire to stabilize this troubled relationship. “Pakistan must seize this opportunity and as the host propose a meaningful bilateral conversation on SCO sidelines. A good starting point for both countries would be to grab some low-hanging fruit – exchanging high commissioners and reviving trade ties,” he said.
While announcing Jaishankar’s participation, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the visit was about SCO and not much should be read into it. The visit also underscores the significance India attaches to the Eurasian bloc.
Despite the Chinese predominance, and efforts to position it as an anti-West forum, SCO remains an important platform for India to build ties with resource-rich central Asia and address issues related to regional security and assert its strategic autonomy
Interestingly, as foreign secretary, Jaishankar had accompanied then Union foreign minister Sushma Swaraj when she visited Pakistan in 2015 for Heart of Asia – Istanbul Process talks.
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Source: TOI
