ISLAMABAD: India has agreed to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) conference in Pakistan this month, marking the first visit by its Minister of External Affairs (MEA) to Pakistan since 2015.
Indian MEA S. Jaishankar will participate in the SCO meeting, to be hosted by Pakistan this month, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs announced.
This will be the first visit by a high-ranking Indian minister to Pakistan in nearly a decade.
The trip follows Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s attendance at a similar SCO meeting in India last year, making him the first senior Pakistani politician to visit India since 2011.
It is noteworthy that relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbors have been tense for decades, with the countries having fought three full-fledged wars and several smaller conflicts since their independence in 1947. Two of these wars, along with many smaller skirmishes, were over the disputed region of Kashmir.
The SCO is a political union of countries focused on discussing security and economic matters in Central Asia.
The organization was founded by China, Russia, and four Central Asian countries in 2001 as a counterbalance to limit the influence of Western alliances, such as NATO. India and Pakistan joined the SCO in 2017.
While India chaired the SCO in 2023, Pakistan will host this year’s summit from October 15 to 16.
At a press briefing, India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal confirmed that S. Jaishankar will lead the Indian delegation to Pakistan.
The last time an Indian foreign minister visited Pakistan was in 2015 when Sushma Swaraj attended a security conference in Islamabad and held rare talks with Pakistani officials.
Days later, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Lahore, where he met then-Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Ties between India and Pakistan have always been strained. Still, they reached a new low in 2019 when India launched airstrikes in Pakistani territory following a militant attack on Indian troops in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Both India and Pakistan claim Kashmir in full but control only parts of it. Meanwhile, Kashmiris continue their struggle against Indian occupation, demanding the right to self-determination.
A thaw in relations seemed possible last year when Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari visited Goa, India, for an SCO meeting.
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