SCO Summit: EAM Jaishankar arrives in Pakistan, first high-profile visit in 9 years

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has landed in Pakistan to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit. This is the first high-profile visit from India in years amid continuing strain in ties between New Delhi and Islamabad. After his arrival in Islamabad, Jaishankar is likely to attend a banquet reception hosted by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to welcome the delegates from the SCO member nations.

Both sides have already ruled out any bilateral talks between Jaishankar and his Pakistan counterpart Ishaq Dar on the sidelines of the SCO heads of government summit. This is for the first time in nearly nine years that India's foreign minister has travelled to Pakistan. Jaishankar will stay in Pakistan for less than 24 hours. 

The last Indian Foreign Minister to visit Pakistan was Sushma Swaraj. She had travelled to Islamabad in December 2015 to attend a conference on Afghanistan. In August this year, Pakistan extended an invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the SCO summit. Jaishankar's visit to Pakistan assumes significance as it is seen as a significant decision on New Delhi's part. In his recent address at an event, Jaishankar said, "Like with any neighbour, India would certainly like to have good relations with Pakistan." "But that cannot happen by overlooking cross-border terrorism and indulging in wishful thinking." 

The decision to send the senior minister is seen as a display of India's commitment to the SCO. 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. 
The relations further deteriorated after India announced the withdrawal of special powers of Jammu and Kashmir and the bifurcation of the state into two union territories on August 5, 2019. Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties with India after New Delhi abrogated Article 370. 

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. Pakistan's then foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari visited India in May 2023 to attend an in-person meeting of the foreign ministers of SCO nations in Goa. It was the first visit of a Pakistani foreign minister to India in almost 12 years.

Pakistan is hosting the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) meeting on October 15 and 16. 

(With inputs from PTI)