New Delhi:
India on Friday announced that Foreign Minister S Jaishankar would visit Pakistan to attend a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in mid-October.
The announcement was made by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.
The last Indian foreign minister to visit Pakistan was Sushma Swaraj. She had visited Islamabad in December 2015 to attend a conference on Afghanistan.
Pakistan is hosting the SCO Heads of Government (CHG) meeting on October 15-16.
“The foreign minister will lead our delegation to Pakistan to participate in the SCO summit to be held in Islamabad on October 15-16,” Jaiswal said during his weekly press briefing.
The spokesperson clarified that the foreign minister is visiting Pakistan only to attend the SCO summit.
In August, Pakistan invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the SCO summit.
Mr Jaishankar's visit to Pakistan assumes particular significance as it is seen as a major decision by New Delhi.
The decision to send the chief minister is seen as a demonstration of India's commitment to the SCO, which plays a key role in strengthening regional security cooperation.
Relations between India and Pakistan came under strain after Indian warplanes bombed a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Pakistan's Balakot in February 2019 in response to the terror attack of Pulwama.
Relations further deteriorated after India announced on August 5, 2019, withdrawal of special powers from Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcation of the state into two Union Territories.
India maintains that it desires normal good neighborly relations with Pakistan, while insisting that it is Islamabad's responsibility to create an environment free of terror and hostility for such engagement.
The SCO Council of Heads of Government conclave is the group's second-highest platform.
The SCO Heads of State Summit is the group's most important forum which is usually attended by the Indian Prime Minister.
The SCO, which includes India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, is an influential economic and security bloc that has become one of the largest international organizations transregional.
India chaired the SCO last year. It hosted the SCO summit in virtual format in July last year.
India's association with the SCO began in 2005 as an observer country. It became a full member of the SCO at the Astana summit in 2017.
India has shown keen interest in deepening its security cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which specifically deals with security and defense issues.
The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Pakistan became a permanent member along with India in 2017.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
