Ahead of his scheduled visit to Pakistan this month for the SCO Summit, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said today that he is going to Islamabad not to discuss India-Pakistan relations, but as a “good member of the SCO” and that since he is “a courteous and civil person” he will behave himself accordingly there.
Answering a question on his impending trip to Islamabad for the October 15-16 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, EAM also said that he would be planning in advance for the visit – both in terms of what he would be doing as well as “a lot of things” that he would not be doing and “which could happen”.
“Yes, I am scheduled to go to Pakistan, in the middle of this month. It is for a meeting of the SCO heads of government. Normally PM goes to the higher level meeting of the heads of state. And one of us, it changes usually, one of us goes for the heads of government. So it’s in line with the tradition.
“So the meeting is taking place in Pakistan. So the question was –Am I planning for it? Of course, I am planning for it. In my business you plan for everything which you are going to do, and for a lot of things that you are not going to do, and which could happen also. You plan for it.
“I expect there would be a lot of media interest because the very nature of the relationship is such. I think we’ll deal with it.
“But I do want to say, it’ll be for a multilateral event. I mean, I am not going there to discuss India-Pakistan relations. I’m going there to be a good member of the SCO. But you know, since I am a courteous and civil person I will behave myself accordingly,” he said with a smile.
Earlier, during the Sardar Patel Lecture on Governance, the EAM said:
“Like any neighbour, India would certainly like to have a good relationship with Pakistan, but that cannot happen by overlooking cross-border terrorism and indulging in wishful thinking; realism must be the foundation” of the ties.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will be visiting Pakistan to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) ‘Heads of Government’ (HoG) summit meeting on October 15-16 in Islamabad, the MEA spokesperson announced yesterday.
Addressing the weekly press briefing on Friday, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that EAM Jaishankar will lead the Indian delegation to the SCO summit in Islamabad.
Asked if there would be any bilaterals with the Islamabad leadership, the spokesperson declined to say anything, except to say that the visit was in relation to the SCO summit and that the media would be updated on any developments.
“The visit is as far as participation in the SCO is concerned… As the visit develops, we will keep you informed of it,” he added.
Pakistan, which is holding the rotating chairmanship of the SCO, had extended an invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in August for the event.
The EAM would be the first Indian foreign minister to visit Pakistan in almost nine years.
Earlier, the then Pakistani foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto had attended the SCO Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Goa in May last year. But just ahead of the meeting, five Indian soldiers were killed in cross-border firing in Rajouri, which prompted EAM Jaishankar to slam the Pakistani Foreign Minister as a “promoter, justifier and spokesperson” of terrorism.
In their speeches at the SCO Foreign Ministers’ meeting both ministers traded barbs at each other over cross-border terrorism and the scrapping of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
