As EAM Jaishankar meets Pakistan PM Sharif, handshake marks departure from Goa acrimony

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is expected to repeat concerns raised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi over terrorism and extremism in the region, as well as connectivity and transit issues

Attending a dinner hosted by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif shortly after arriving in Islamabad on Tuesday (October 15, 2024), External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar shook hands and exchanged greetings with Mr. Sharif.

On Wednesday, Mr. Jaishankar will address the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of Government (CHG) meeting in Islamabad and is expected to repeat concerns raised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at past SCO summits over terrorism and extremism in the region, as well as connectivity and transit issues.

Neither side has expressed a desire to hold a bilateral interaction, although Mr. Jaishankar will be at the same venue as his counterpart Ishaq Dar and the CHG chaired by Mr. Sharif.

Asked by Indian media covering the event about the possibility of a meeting, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch confirmed that no bilateral meetings had been planned between India and Pakistan.

Speaking after the dinner and a cultural performance of SCO countries, that included a recital by a Pakistani exponent of Bharatnatyam, a senior Minister struck a positive note, saying that regional cooperation in South Asia should be revived in the manner of past agreements and advocated dialogue between India and Pakistan.

“We need to go back to the spirit of the Lahore declaration,” Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal told journalists, referring to the visit by Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in 1999. “That was the high point between leaderships of both countries, which was achieved by Nawaz Sharif and Atal Behari Vajpayee, and if we revive the spirit of Lahore, I think there is no problem that we cannot solve together.”

The leaders, including seven Prime Ministers from Russia, China, Belarus, and Central Asian nations, Iran’s Vice-President and Mr. Jaishankar, will gather for group photographs on Wednesday morning, followed by the plenary session of the 23rd SCO CHG. This would be followed by the signing of a number of documents and an official lunch at the Jinnah Convention Centre. Mr. Jaishankar is expected to leave later in the afternoon from Islamabad for Delhi.

This is the first such visit by an Indian Foreign Minister in nine years, and the first such interaction between the Indian and Pakistani leadership since the SCO Foreign Minister’s meeting in May 2023, which ended in an acrimonious exchange of statements between Mr. Jaishankar and then-Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. While the handshake between Mr. Jaishankar and Mr. Sharif was a formality, it was in distinct contrast to the meeting of the SCO Foreign Ministers in Goa, where Mr. Jaishankar pointedly avoided shaking hands with Mr. Bhutto, greeting him with a ‘namaste’ instead.

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On Tuesday, Mr. Bhutto, who is no longer in the Cabinet post-elections, although his party, the PPP, supports the government, and his father Asif Ali Zardari is Pakistani President, said that he welcomed Mr. Jaishankar’s visit to Pakistan.

“The SCO is going ahead successfully because it does not allow bilateral ties to overshadow its agenda, which was one of the reasons SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) failed,” said Mr. Bhutto. “We do need to start talking at some point, but we will have to find ways to address our issues over Kashmir on our side and terrorism that India keeps raising on its side,” he added, also suggesting a dialogue on climate change between the two “most stressed countries” on the issue.

Last week, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, Prime Minister Sharif’s niece, also advocated in public remarks for “climate diplomacy” between India and Pakistan to help those affected by global warming and air pollution on both sides of the border.

Pakistan’s former Foreign Minister Sherry Rehman, who at present is the Minister for Climate Change, told The Hindu that she was less hopeful of any opening between the two countries during Mr. Jaishankar’s visit. “There seems to be no particular interest from the Indian Foreign Minister’s side in seeking an opening or using the SCO conference as an opportunity to break any ice between India and Pakistan,” she said.

Published - October 15, 2024 08:59 pm IST