Daily Times

India’s Minister for External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Saturday said he would not discuss bilateral relations when he visits Pakistan this month, the first such visit in nearly a decade, for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.

“I expect there would be a lot of media interest because of the very nature of the relationship,” Jaishankar said in response to a query at an event in New Delhi.

“But I do want to say it will be for a multilateral event. I am not going there to discuss India-Pakistan relations,” he added.

“I am going there to be a good member of the SCO but since I am a courteous and civil person, I will behave myself accordingly,” he said.

The Indian foreign ministry confirmed a day ago that Jaishankar will visit Pakistan to participate in the summit on Oct 15-16 but did not say if he would meet any Pakistani leaders on the sidelines.

Relations between the two countries have gone through periods of thaw from time to time but have been largely frozen since they downgraded diplomatic ties in tit-for-tat moves in 2019.

Earlier, the Foreign Office (FO) had confirmed that Prime Minister Modi was invited to the SCO Council of Heads of Government meeting, which Pakistan is hosting on Oct 15-16, under its rotating chairmanship.

FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch had said, “An invitation has also been sent to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi,” adding that some countries had already confirmed their participation in the meeting.

Meanwhile, a comprehensive security plan for the upcoming SCO summit was approved earlier this week at a meeting chaired by Federal Minister for Interior Mohsin Naqvi. The interior minister said additional personnel from Pakistan Army, Rangers, FC and Punjab police will be deployed to ensure foolproof security for the guests.