‘Jaishankar’s comment is the answer…’, Pakistan spoke on relations and talks with India

Islamabad: Pakistan has ruled out the possibility of bilateral talks with India on the occasion of the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit. Foreign Minister S Jaishankar will visit Pakistan to represent India in this summit. A delegation of the Indian government will go to Islamabad under his leadership. Foreign Minister Jaishankar had said a few days ago that his upcoming visit to Pakistan would be for a multilateral program, not for bilateral talks.

This visit is important because this will be the first visit of an Indian Foreign Minister to Pakistan in nine years, the last time Sushma Swaraj went to Islamabad as Foreign Minister in 2015. When asked about S Jaishankar’s visit, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zehra Baloch said, ‘I would like you to look at the comments made by the Indian Foreign Minister on October 5, in which he said that his upcoming visit to Islamabad is for a multilateral program, not to discuss Pakistan-India relations. His comments are indicative in themselves.’

Last week, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had categorically stated that discussions on India-Pakistan issues are not on the agenda during his visit to Islamabad on October 15 and 16. Addressing a gathering, Jaishankar said, “I am scheduled to visit Pakistan in the middle of this month for the SCO Summit. This is a summit of heads of government. I am not going there to discuss India-Pakistan relations. I am going there as a good member of the SCO.”

Relations between India and Pakistan are currently at their lowest point. Islamabad downgraded diplomatic ties with New Delhi after the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019. Relations were already strained after the Indian Air Force struck a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Balakot, Pakistan in February 2019 following the Pulwama terror attack. More than 40 soldiers were martyred in the terrorist attack in Pulwama.