NEW DELHI, Oct 4: India on Friday announced that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will travel to Pakistan to attend a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in mid-October.
It will be for the first time in nearly nine years that India’s external affairs minister will travel to Pakistan even as the ties between the two neighbours remained frosty over the Kashmir issue and cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan.
Pakistan is hosting the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) meeting on October 15 and 16.
The last Indian external affairs minister to visit Pakistan was Sushma Swaraj.
She had travelled to Islamabad in December 2015 to attend a conference on Afghanistan.
The announcement on Jaishankar’s visit was made by external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.
The spokesperson clarified that the external affairs minister is travelling to Pakistan only to attend the SCO summit.
In August, Pakistan invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the SCO’s summit.
Jaishankar’s visit to Pakistan assumes significance as it is seen as a major decision on New Delhi’s part.
The decision to send the senior minister is seen as a display of India’s commitment to the SCO which has been playing a key role in boosting regional security cooperation.(PTI)
