Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is set to travel to Pakistan for the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, a spokesman from the Indian foreign ministry confirmed on Friday.
The upcoming visit marks the first occasion in nearly ten years that an Indian foreign minister will travel to Pakistan, occurring amidst heightened tensions between the two nuclear-armed nations, primarily due to the ongoing Kashmir dispute.
Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Indian foreign ministry, announced that Jaishankar will head the Indian delegation to Pakistan for the upcoming summit of Eurasian leaders scheduled for October 15 and 16. However, Jaiswal did not clarify whether Jaishankar would engage in discussions with any Pakistani leaders during the event.
The neighboring countries in South Asia have engaged in three wars, two of which were fought over the contentious Kashmir region located in the Himalayas. New Delhi has leveled accusations against Islamabad, claiming that it is providing support to Islamist militants engaged in conflict against Indian governance in the area. Pakistan, however, has firmly rejected these allegations.
In a statement made earlier this year, Jaishankar emphasized India’s desire to address the longstanding issue of cross-border terrorism. However, he cautioned that such efforts cannot align with the “policy of a good neighbour.”
Relations between the two countries have intermittently thawed, yet they have predominantly remained frozen. This deterioration in diplomatic ties can be traced back to 2019, when New Delhi revoked Kashmir’s special autonomy and divided the region into two federally administered territories, prompting a series of retaliatory actions.
Relations soured in 2019 following a suicide bombing that targeted an Indian military convoy in Kashmir, which authorities linked to militants operating from Pakistan. In response, India conducted an airstrike on what it identified as a militant base within Pakistani territory.
The most recent significant diplomatic engagement between the two nations occurred in May 2023, when Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who was serving as Pakistan’s foreign minister, participated in the SCO foreign ministers’ meeting in Goa, India.
Although Bhutto-Zardari did not engage with any Indian leaders, he and Jaishankar utilized the platform to exchange accusations regarding their strained relationship.
