External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar exchanged pleasantries with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) dinner venue in Islamabad on Tuesday. A video showed Sharif welcoming Jaishankar and shaking hand with him. The two leaders could be seen having a brief conversation at the venue.
Jaishankar arrived in Islamabad for the SCO summit earlier on Tuesday, marking the first visit by someone holding this office in India to the neighbouring nation Pakistan in nearly a decade.
Jaishankar landed in the Pakistani capital to attend a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). He landed at the Nur Khan airbase on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital city at around 3:30 pm (local time) and he was greeted by senior Pakistani officials.
The brief exchange between the two leaders took place at a dinner reception hosted by Sharif at his residence in honour of the delegates of the SCO member countries. Jaishankar and Sharif warmly shook hands and held a very brief interaction.
It is the first time in nearly a decade that the India's foreign minister travelled to Pakistan even as the ties between the two neighbours remained tense over the Kashmir issue and cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan.
The last Indian Foreign Minister to visit Pakistan was Sushma Swaraj. She had travelled to Islamabad to attend the 'Heart of Asia' conference on Afghanistan that was held from December 8-9, 2015.
Jaishankar, who was then India's foreign secretary, was part of Swaraj's delegation, news agency PTI reported. During the visit, Swaraj had held talks with her then counterpart Sartaj Aziz.
Following the Swaraj-Aziz talks, a joint statement was released in which both sides announced their decision to start a Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue.
Little over two weeks after Swaraj's trip, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sprang a surprise with a 150-minute visit to Lahore on his way back home from Kabul.
PM Modi visited the ancestral home of his then-Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif and had talks to open ways for peace. However, a series of terror attacks on India by Pakistan-based terrorists significantly strained the ties subsequently.
Now, Pakistan is hosting the two-day SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) summit on October 15 and 16. Jaishankar will lead the Indian delegation at the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) summit on Wednesday.
"The SCO CHG meeting is held annually and focuses on the trade and economic agenda of the Organisation," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.
"External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will represent India at the meeting. India remains actively engaged in the SCO format, including various mechanisms and initiatives within the SCO framework," it said in a brief statement in New Delhi.
