There is a glimmer of hope between the people of India and Pakistan as Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar is all set to embark on his visit to Islamabad to participate in The Shanghai Cooperation Organization ( SCO ) summit on Oct 15 & 16. This will be the first visit of an Indian EAM to Pakistan after a hiatus of almost a decade. Late Sushma Swaraj had visited the neighboring country in 2015.

Though, Jaishankar has stated that not much should not be read into this visit to Pakistan but many people are sanguine that there will an ice break between the cold relations of both countries.

In 2023, Pakistan’s then Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had visited India for the SCO meeting in Goa. This was the first visit by an Pakistani Foreign Minister of Pakistan to India in last six years.

The relations between the two countries had touched a new low after the Pulwama terror attack and the Balakot airstrikes.

The visit of EAM gain significance after the fresh round of statements made by leaders of the respective countries aimed at each other’s countries in the just concluded UN session.

Speaking in the general debate of the 79th UN General Assembly, Jaishankar without any words said –

“A dysfunctional nation coveting the lands of others must be exposed and must be countered. We heard some bizarre assertions from it at this forum yesterday. So let me make India’s position clear. Pakistan’s cross-border terrorism policy will never succeed.

And it can have no expectation of impunity. On the contrary, actions will certainly have consequences. The issue to be resolved between us is now only the vacation of illegally occupied Indian territory by Pakistan. And of course the abandonment of Pakistan’s longstanding attachment to terrorism.”

Speaking a day before Indian EAM spoke, Pak Premier Shehbaz Sharif brought the issue of Kashmir before the world platform and said that , to quote UN News “ He underscored that since 5 August 2019, India has initiated “unilateral illegal steps to impose what its leaders ominously call a ‘Final Solution’ for Jammu and Kashmir” with 900,000 Indian troops terrorising the people there through prolonged curfews, extra-judicial killings and the abduction of thousands of young Kahmiris.

In reaction to “massive expansion of its military capabilities which are essentially deployed against Pakistan”, he asserted that “Pakistan will respond most decisively to any Indian aggression.” The website wrote informing about Sharif’s address referring to India.

So basically, it is against this backdrop that Indian EAM will be wheels off to Pakistan and will be under the watch of every world leader who is keen to study India Pakistan relation’s effect on South Asia which is currently under a politically active phase these days.

While there has been a new administration in Bangladesh after Sheikh Hasina was compelled by internal circumstances to quit power and fly to India, Nepal too saw a change in government recently in July this year. Srilanka too has a new President.

2015 : Surprise for the world - Pak gets Modi as a visitor

PM Modi had last visited Pakistan in year 2015 when he had made a surprise visit to Lahore to meet his then counterpart Nawaz Sharif. Infact, he had stunned the world with his surprise visit to Pakistan then which was a stopover while coming back to India from Afghanistan. However, the opportunity could not muster any big change in the Indian Pakistani relationship and then Pulwama happened in 2019 which led to relationship going downhill.

What is Expected?

Interestingly, another important member of SCO is China and obviously it will also be participating in this summit. If there will be any bilateral talk on the sidelines of the summit between India and China is not known .

With diplomat turned politician S Jaishankar going to Pakistan as his maiden visit as EAM, his visit will be keenly followed by those interested in chapters of diplomacy.

His tongue in cheek remarks are well known by now. Recently, in an interview he was asked:-

"Out of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un or American billionaire George Soros, would he prefer to have dinner with?" Jaishankar didn’t blinked eye and wittingly replied that he was fasting for Navratri.

So if we get more such remarks from one of the best orators of Modi government during his Pakistan visit then this should not come as a surprise.

What is SCO ?

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is a permanent intergovernmental international organization established on June 15, 2001 in Shanghai (PRC) by Kazakhstan, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Russia, the Republic of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The secretariat of this regional grouping is in Beijing.

Later in the year 2017, India became a full member of this organisation. India assumed the rotating presidency of the regional grouping at the SCO Summit held in Samarkand (Uzbekistan) in 2022.