New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar stated on Saturday that his upcoming trip to Islamabad is solely to attend the 2024 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, not to discuss India-Pakistan relations. His remarks were reported by news agency ANI during the Sardar Patel Lecture on Governance, organized by the IC Centre for Governance in New Delhi.
Jaishankar confirmed, “I am scheduled to go to Pakistan in the middle of this month for the SCO heads of government meeting.” He emphasized that the visit is strictly for participation in the multilateral event as a “good member of the SCO.”
Recognizing the heightened media interest given the context of India-Pakistan relations, Jaishankar reiterated, “I will be there for a multilateral event; I am not going there to discuss India-Pakistan relations. I will behave accordingly as a courteous and civil person.”
The minister explained that the SCO Summit is being held in Islamabad this year, noting that both India and Pakistan are relatively recent members of the organization. “Normally, the Prime Minister attends the high-level meeting of heads of state. It just so happens that this meeting is taking place in Pakistan,” he added.
When asked about his preparations for the summit, Jaishankar affirmed, “Of course, I am planning for it. In my business, you plan for everything you are going to do, and for many things you are not going to do, which could happen as well.”
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had previously announced Jaishankar’s visit, confirming that he will lead a delegation to participate in the SCO summit scheduled for October 15-16 in Islamabad.
In August, India received an invitation from Pakistan to attend the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) in-person meeting. Notably, in May 2023, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari visited India for the SCO meeting in Goa, marking the first visit by a Pakistani Foreign Minister to India in six years.
The SCO, established on June 15, 2001, in Shanghai, includes nine member states: India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, along with three observer states: Afghanistan, Mongolia, and Belarus.