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Reason To Visit Pakistan Is Only The SCO Meeting: Jaishankar

  • By Thetripurapost Desk, New Delhi
  • Oct 05, 2024
  • 364

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who is going to Pakistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting, said on Saturday that he is not going there to hold any kind of talks with the neighbouring country.

While addressing a program in Delhi, Jaishankar said that the reason for his visit to Pakistan is only the SCO meeting. This is a multilateral event. He will not discuss India-Pakistan relations there.

The Foreign Minister said, "Being a good member of SCO, I am going to participate in the meeting in Pakistan. I am a civilized man, so I will behave well when I go there." Apart from this, Jaishankar also blamed Pakistan for SAARC not being active.

Jaishankar said - SAARC is not moving forward because of Pakistan. He said, "SAARC is not moving forward at the moment. We have not held any meeting for years. There is only one reason for this and that is that one member of the organization is carrying out terrorist attacks on the other. Terrorism is an issue with which there can be no compromise. If this continues, then we cannot move SAARC forward."

The SAARC organization was formed to coordinate among South Asian countries. India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka are its member countries. However, due to differences between India and Pakistan, the organization is not able to function properly. This raises questions on its importance.

Foreign Minister Jaishankar will visit Pakistan on 15-16 October. He will attend the SCO Heads of Government (CHG) meeting in Islamabad. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal gave this information on Friday (4 October). 

This will be the first time after Sushma Swaraj's visit in 2015 that an Indian minister will visit Pakistan.

In fact, Pakistan had invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the SCO meeting on August 29. Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zehra Baloch had said that invitations have been sent to the heads of all member countries to attend the meeting