NEW DELHI (Diya TV) — India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar reassured he would maintain his dignity during his forthcoming visit to Pakistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit on October 15-16. Speaking before an audience during the Sardar Patel Lecture in New Delhi, Jaishankar said that his visit is only about the multilateral engagement, and that there will be no discussion about India-Pakistan relations.
“I am going there to be a good member of the SCO. But, you know, since I’m a courteous and civil person, I will behave myself accordingly,” Jaishankar said. This will be the first visit by an Indian external affairs minister to Pakistan in almost a decade, reflecting India’s engagement in regional diplomacy amid ongoing tensions over issues like Kashmir and cross-border terrorism.
In his speech, Jaishankar indirectly attacked Pakistan with the stalled South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. He said one of the reasons for the lack of progress in SAARC is because of Pakistan’s alleged support for terrorism, which he called “not acceptable.” “If one of our neighbors continues to do it, then there cannot be business as usual in SAARC,” he added.
The statements from the external affairs minister mark a conservative posture by India to its neighbor, with diplomatic ties being estranged since India’s military actions in Pakistan over the 2019 Pulwama attack. The situation has now created a kind of diplomatic freeze, where high-level visits now become rare.
Jaishankar’s visit comes after Pakistan extended an invitation to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit for the SCO summit that Pakistan is hosting. According to observers, Jaishankar’s visit was timely to provide much-needed multilateral engagement between India and others as bilateral tensions have persisted in between.
