S Jaishankar’s remarks self-explanatory: Pak on bilateral talks with India

Pakistan has ruled out the possibility of bilateral talks with India on the sidelines of the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.

That would be attended by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. Jaishankar, who will lead a delegation to Islamabad next week, had also toed a similar line and maintained that his visit was meant for a multilateral event.

The visit holds significance as this will be the first visit by an Indian External Affairs Minister to Pakistan in nine years, with the last being Sushma Swaraj’s trip in 2015.

Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, when asked about Jaishankar’s visit, said, “I would like you to refer to the remarks made by the Minister for External Affairs on October 5, in which he maintained that his visit was meant for a multilateral event and not for discussing Pakistan-India relations. These remarks are self-explanatory.”

Last week, Jaishankar categorically said talks on India-Pakistan issues were not on the table during his visit to Islamabad on October 15 and 16.

Addressing a gathering, Jaishankar said, “I am scheduled to go to Pakistan in the middle of this month, and that is for a meeting of the SCO Heads of Government… I am not going there to discuss India-Pakistan relations. I am going there to be a good member of the SCO, but you know, since I am a courteous and civil person, I will behave myself.”

The relationship between India and Pakistan is at its lowest ebb after Islamabad downgraded diplomatic ties with New Delhi following the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.

The ties were already under strain after India’s Air Force attacked a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Balakot in Pakistan in February 2019 following the Pulwama terror attack. The terror attack in Pulwama killed over 40 soldiers.