External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will be travelling to Pakistan to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) conclave. India announced on Friday that Jaishankar would lead the delegation from the country.
Pakistan is hosting the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) meeting on October 15 and 16.
Jaishankar is the first Indian foreign minister to visit Pakistan since December 2015. Sushma Swaraj was the last Indian foreign minister to visit Islamabad.
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"The external affairs minister will lead our delegation to Pakistan to participate in the SCO summit which will be held in Islamabad on October 15 and 16," external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal announced.
In August, Pakistan had invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the SCO summit.
Jaishankar's visit to Pakistan assumes significance as it is seen as a major decision under the current scenario of strained relations between both nations.
According to experts, the decision to send the foreign minister to attend the meeting shows India’s commitment to the SCO, which has been playing a key role in boosting regional security cooperation.
Since 2019, India and Pakistan have strained ties. In February 2019, India’s attack on a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Balakot, Pakistan in response to the Pulwama terror attack heightened the tensions between both nations.
It further worsened after India's withdrawal of special powers of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcation of the state in August 2019.
However, India on several occasions expressed that it desires to have normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan while insisting that Islamabad create an environment free of terror and hostility for such engagement.
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The SCO heads of state summit is the top forum in the grouping that is generally attended by the Indian prime minister.
The SCO comprises of India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The SCO is an influential economic and security bloc that emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations.
India was the chair of the SCO last year. It hosted the SCO summit in the virtual format in July last year.
It became a full member state of SCO at the Astana summit in 2017. Pakistan also became a permanent member at the same time.