Bankrupt Pakistan is desperate for talks with India, Shahbaz Sharif government again hinted

Islamabad: Pakistan’s Shahbaz Sharif government is eager to start relations with India. However, it is not getting any sentiment from India. Pakistan has clearly indicated that it is ready for a bilateral meeting with India during the SCO Summit. A recent statement by the Pakistani Foreign Office shows that Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif may meet India’s Foreign Minister Dr. S Jaishankar. Jaishankar will attend the conference with the Indian delegation. However, he has clearly said that he is not going to hold a bilateral meeting with Pakistan.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday issued a statement about the SCO meeting, saying that the Prime Minister (Shahbaz Sharif) will also hold important bilateral meetings with the heads of the delegation during the meeting. The Foreign Office said seven prime ministers, a vice president and a foreign minister will arrive in Islamabad next week to attend the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads of Government (CHG) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member countries.

Pakistan gets hosting for the first time
Pakistan is hosting the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting for the first time from 15 to 16 October. The CHG is the second highest body of the SCO. The SCO summit will be attended by Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin as well as their counterparts from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Jaishankar will attend the meeting
India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and Iran’s First Vice President will also attend the SCO summit. As an observer state, the Prime Minister of Mongolia and the Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan will attend the meeting as special guests. Afghanistan will not participate in the CHG meeting, as the Beijing-based SCO Secretariat has not sent an invitation to Kabul to attend it.

Pakistan’s Foreign Office said that the Prime Minister will also hold bilateral meetings with the heads of delegations during the meeting. But it was not clarified whether this includes a bilateral meeting with Indian Foreign Minister Dr. S Jaishankar. Earlier, India’s Foreign Minister Jaishankar had ruled out the possibility of any talks with Pakistan during the visit.

‘Not going to increase friendship’
During an event in New Delhi, Jaishankar had said about the Pakistan visit, ‘I am not going there to discuss India-Pakistan relations. I am going there to be a good member of the SCO. But you know, since I am a polite and civilized person, I will behave accordingly.’