External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is expected to be in Pakistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit on Tuesday, amid heightened security and the deployment of the army in the national capital.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Jaishankar will be among the senior regional government officials attending the event. The external affairs minister will be just in time for the welcome dinner hosted by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif before the main summit on Wednesday, The Times Of India reported.
The summit comes as both neighbours have ruled out any formal bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the event. India earlier this month said Jaishankar would lead a delegation to Pakistan to participate in the SCO summit in Islamabad. However, minister Jaishankar ruled out chances of bilateral talks during his visit.
Responding to a query about the Jaishankar visit, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch later said, “I would like you to refer to the remarks made by the Indian Minister for External Affairs on 5th of October, in which he maintained that his visit was meant for a multilateral event and not for discussing Pakistan-India relations. These remarks are self-explanatory.”
Jaishankar’s visit to Pakistan assumes significance as it is seen as a major decision on New Delhi’s part. The ties between India and Pakistan came under severe strain after India’s warplanes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Balakot in Pakistan in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack. India has been maintaining that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan while insisting that the onus is on Islamabad to create an environment free of terror and hostility for such engagement.
SCO Meeting’
The 23rd meeting of the heads of government of the SCO member states is set to take place in Islamabad on 15 and 16 October for which the authorities have made strict security arrangements. As foreign delegations started arriving on Sunday, a 76-member Russian delegation and seven representatives of the SCO reached the country.
A four-member official delegation of India also arrived in Pakistan, Geo News reported quoting airport sources. A 15-member delegation from China, a 4-member delegation from Kyrgyzstan and a two-member delegation from Iran also reached Islamabad.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party has threatened to hold a protest on October 15 against the restriction imposed on its jailed leader Imran Khan and demanded that the government allow him to meet his family, legal team and doctor. Amid the calls for protest, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said that Pakistan was fully prepared to host the SCO summit.
“We are ready to extend a warm welcome to the summit participants, including the Indian foreign minister,” he told the media during a walk-through event in Islamabad to review the event’s arrangements. He said that Pakistan was hosting a major international event after several years and would handle its responsibilities with excellence.
Dar said the Chinese Premier would also hold bilateral talks with his Pakistani counterpart. He said there’s no request for a bilateral meeting from India. Without naming the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Dar criticised the party for trying to sabotage the summit with their call for protests. “Protests during nationally significant events do not send a positive message,” Dar said. The SCO, established in 2001, aims to promote political, economic, and security cooperation in the region.
