External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will arrive in Pakistan on Tuesday to attend a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the first visit by a top Indian diplomat in years. Pakistan is hosting the SCO Council of Heads of Government meeting on October 15 and 16.
Jaishankar will attend a banquet reception hosted by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to welcome the delegates from the SCO member nations. The EAM will be in Islamabad for less than a day.
Both nations have also ruled out any bilateral talks between Jaishankar and his Pakistan counterpart Ishaq Dar. On whether India would mend ties with Pakistan, Jaishankar said improving relations wouldn't happen by overlooking cross-border terrorism and indulging in wishful thinking.
The last SCO meeting was held in India and was attended by Pakistan's then-foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto. In August, Pakistan invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the SCO summit.
Meanwhile, former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, also the chief of the ruling PML-N party, said he hoped for a sit-together with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the not-so-distant future.
Calling himself a supporter of good relations with India, Sharif told journalist Barkha Dutt that he hoped to revive India-Pakistan relations. "I hope that there is an opportunity to revive our relationship," the former Prime Minister added.
Sharif did not appear on camera but spoke to Dutt on record. "It would have been a great thing if PM Modi had also attended the SCO summit here in Pakistan. I do hope that he (Modi) and us will have an opportunity to sit together in the not-so-distant future," he added while speaking about the high-profile SCO meeting happening in Islamabad.
Sharif has always vocalised his support for mending ties with India. In 2023, after he returned from London, the former Prime Minister said it was important to normalise Pakistan's ties with its neighbouring countries, particularly India. "We will have to improve our relations with India, Afghanistan, and Iran. We need to ensure stronger relations with China," he told reporters then.
It was during Sharif's tenure that both Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1999) and Narendra Modi (2015) visited Pakistan.
