External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday that he will not discuss relations between India and Pakistan during the SCO Summit, which will be held in Islamabad in mid-October.
The central government on Friday announced that EAM Jaishankar will travel to Pakistan to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of Government Summit in Islamabad on October 15 and 16.
“I’m not going there to discuss India-Pakistan relations. I’m going there to be a good member of the SCO,” the foreign minister said.
He added, “Since I’m a courteous and civil person, I will behave myself accordingly.”
The last Indian external affairs minister to visit Pakistan was Sushma Swaraj. She had travelled to Islamabad in December 2015 to attend a conference on Afghanistan.
The announcement on Jaishankar’s visit to Pakistan was made by MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal who highlighted that the minister will only be travelling to the neighbouring country for the SCO Summit.
In August, Pakistan invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the SCO’s summit.
Jaishankar’s visit to Pakistan assumes significance as it is seen as a major decision on New Delhi’s part.
The decision to send the senior minister is seen as a display of India’s commitment to the SCO which has been playing a key role in boosting regional security cooperation.
Meanwhile, the last Pakistani minister to travel to India was the former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto who visited Goa in 2023 to attend an SCO meeting. It was the first visit of a Pakistani foreign minister to India in almost 12 years.
With inputs from PTI
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