NEW DELHI: For the first time in nine years, an Indian foreign minister will travel to Pakistan with the government confirming Friday that S Jaishankar will represent India at the SCO heads of government meeting in Islamabad on October 15-16. TOI had first reported on August 25 that Pakistan had invited PM Narendra Modi for the meeting.
However, with Modi’s participation in SCO restricted to the heads of state summit, the key question always was whether he would nominate Jaishankar, who has participated in the same meetings in the past, given the troubled relationship.
While more a formality in line with the SCO protocol than a peace outreach, the invite opened up the possibility of a rare high-level visit from India to Islamabad, even though ties remain downgraded since the revocation of the special status of J&K in August 2019.
The decision to send Jaishankar is significant as India had the option of sending a junior minister or participating virtually. Jaishankar had said recently India is not passive on Pakistan and will react accordingly to both positive and negative developments.
Whether or not there’s a bilateral meeting with Pakistan foreign minister Ishaq Dar is likely to depend more on the host.
India’s last high commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria says the
ball is now firmly in Pakistan's court as by sending Jaishankar India has made a bold move, signalling its desire to stabilise this troubled relationship.
“Pakistan must seize this opportunity and as the host propose a meaningful bilateral conversation on the SCO sidelines. A good starting point for both countries would be to grab some low-hanging fruit - exchanging high commissioners and reviving trade ties,” he says.
While announcing Jaishankar’s participation, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the visit was about SCO and not much should be read into it.
The visit by Jaishankar to Pakistan also underscores the significance India attaches to the Eurasian bloc amid speculation over India’s commitment to the grouping after Modi skipped participation the heads of state summit this year in Kazakhstan in July.
Despite the Chinese predominance, and efforts to position it as an anti-West platform, SCO remains an important platform for India to build its ties with the resource-rich Central Asia address issues related to regional security and assert its strategic autonomy. India’s position, however, remains nuanced as it is the only SCO country to not endorse China’s BRI and to not sign up to a long-term economic strategy that was announced by the member-states last year.
Interestingly, Jaishankar had accompanied as foreign secretary then foreign minister Sushma Swaraj when she visited Pakistan in late 2015 for the Heart of Asia – Istanbul Process talks. That visit saw the last substantive ministerial engagement between India and Pakistan, leading to the announcement of resumption of the dialogue process under the new name of Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue. While the initiative led to Modi’s famous “drop by’’ in Lahore on his then counterpart Nawaz Sharif’s birthday, it was quickly undone by a terrorist attack on the Pathankot airbase.
Despite hopes of a thaw in ties, and with Nawaz back now as perhaps the most powerful political figure in the country, any substantive dialogue between the foreign ministers seems unlikely for now. Jaishankar didn’t have a bilateral meeting with his then counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari when the latter visited India last year for a meeting of SCO foreign ministers.
Amid continued tensions, both sides have only dialled up the rhetoric on terrorism and J&K, most recently at the UNGA where Jaishankar said that a dysfunctional nation coveting the lands of others must be exposed and must be countered and that Pakistan’s cross-border terrorism will have consequences. The minister was countering Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif’s assertion at the UN about what he called the Hindu supremacist agenda of the Indian government and his claim that the people of Kashmir had struggled for freedom like the Palestinians.
However, with Modi’s participation in SCO restricted to the heads of state summit, the key question always was whether he would nominate Jaishankar, who has participated in the same meetings in the past, given the troubled relationship.
While more a formality in line with the SCO protocol than a peace outreach, the invite opened up the possibility of a rare high-level visit from India to Islamabad, even though ties remain downgraded since the revocation of the special status of J&K in August 2019.
The decision to send Jaishankar is significant as India had the option of sending a junior minister or participating virtually. Jaishankar had said recently India is not passive on Pakistan and will react accordingly to both positive and negative developments.
Whether or not there’s a bilateral meeting with Pakistan foreign minister Ishaq Dar is likely to depend more on the host.
India’s last high commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria says the
ball is now firmly in Pakistan's court as by sending Jaishankar India has made a bold move, signalling its desire to stabilise this troubled relationship.
“Pakistan must seize this opportunity and as the host propose a meaningful bilateral conversation on the SCO sidelines. A good starting point for both countries would be to grab some low-hanging fruit - exchanging high commissioners and reviving trade ties,” he says.
While announcing Jaishankar’s participation, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the visit was about SCO and not much should be read into it.
The visit by Jaishankar to Pakistan also underscores the significance India attaches to the Eurasian bloc amid speculation over India’s commitment to the grouping after Modi skipped participation the heads of state summit this year in Kazakhstan in July.
Despite the Chinese predominance, and efforts to position it as an anti-West platform, SCO remains an important platform for India to build its ties with the resource-rich Central Asia address issues related to regional security and assert its strategic autonomy. India’s position, however, remains nuanced as it is the only SCO country to not endorse China’s BRI and to not sign up to a long-term economic strategy that was announced by the member-states last year.
Interestingly, Jaishankar had accompanied as foreign secretary then foreign minister Sushma Swaraj when she visited Pakistan in late 2015 for the Heart of Asia – Istanbul Process talks. That visit saw the last substantive ministerial engagement between India and Pakistan, leading to the announcement of resumption of the dialogue process under the new name of Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue. While the initiative led to Modi’s famous “drop by’’ in Lahore on his then counterpart Nawaz Sharif’s birthday, it was quickly undone by a terrorist attack on the Pathankot airbase.
Despite hopes of a thaw in ties, and with Nawaz back now as perhaps the most powerful political figure in the country, any substantive dialogue between the foreign ministers seems unlikely for now. Jaishankar didn’t have a bilateral meeting with his then counterpart Bilawal Bhutto Zardari when the latter visited India last year for a meeting of SCO foreign ministers.
Amid continued tensions, both sides have only dialled up the rhetoric on terrorism and J&K, most recently at the UNGA where Jaishankar said that a dysfunctional nation coveting the lands of others must be exposed and must be countered and that Pakistan’s cross-border terrorism will have consequences. The minister was countering Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif’s assertion at the UN about what he called the Hindu supremacist agenda of the Indian government and his claim that the people of Kashmir had struggled for freedom like the Palestinians.
