‘No Request’ For Talks From Delhi Or Islamabad, Pakistan Says Ahead Of SCO Meet
Pakistan’s Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar Sunday said Islamabad has not received any request for bilateral talks with India on the sidelines of the SCO Summit that begins Tuesday. But a pull aside ‘not ruled out’.
New Delhi: Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar Sunday said Islamabad has not received any request from India to hold bilateral talks on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of Government (CHG) meeting that is scheduled to be held on October 15-16, and neither has Pakistan made any request of that sort to New Delhi. Pakistan is the host for this year’s meet, which is taking place in capital Islamabad.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will be representing India at the meeting in Islamabad in lieu of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This will be Jaishankar’s maiden visit to the neighbouring country since becoming India's External Affairs Minister.
“No request for a bilateral meeting was received from the Indian Foreign Minister and neither did we extend any formal request to them (India),” Dar told at a media briefing after reviewing the security arrangements of the SCO meeting that is taking place amid tight security even as the country faces a political turmoil.
Pakistan, which became a permanent member of the China-led grouping SCO along with India in 2017, is hosting the multilateral event in-person for the first time. India, which was the chair in 2023, had held the summit virtually. However, for the SCO Foreign Ministers' meet that year, Pakistan’s then Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had attended the meeting in Goa in person.
Dar also said Jaishankar will be accorded welcome as per the protocols and being the host Pakistan will ensure that he attends the event with respect.
“We are ready to extend a warm welcome to the summit participants, including the Indian foreign minister,” said Dar.
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No India-Pak Bilateral But Pull-Aside Not Ruled Out
Jaishankar will be reaching Pakistan Monday — a day before the official beginning of the event — in order to attend the dinner reception that will be hosted by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
While both sides have ruled out any possibility of an official bilateral meeting, chances of a brief pull aside “cannot be ruled out”, diplomatic sources told ABP Live.
Sources also said while a thawing of ties remains a far cry, both sides might take some small leaps in terms of reinstating high commissioners in each other’s capitals. The fact that India’s EAM is visiting Pakistan after a gap of nine years “will send out a positive message” in the entire neighbourhood.
Earlier this month, Jaishankar had said: “The visit will be for a multilateral event. I’m not going there to discuss India-Pakistan relations. I’m going there to be a good member of the SCO.”
The SCO, founded in 2001, has ten members – Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Belarus.
Vijay Nambiar, former Indian envoy to Islamabad, told ABP Live: “I don’t think they will use this as an opportunity to resume the stalled dialogue. Jaishankar will stick to the SCO multilateral aspect. We can see some handshakes and all happening but we also know that the current government is not willing to show that it is loosening up on Pakistan.”
According to Sharat Sabharwal, also former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, said: “I see the visit essentially in the SCO context. Given the state of the bilateral relationship and the recent exchanges in UNGA, the chances of a bilateral breakthrough seem remote.”
He added: “There are hard line positions on both sides that are difficult to climb down from. India has said and maintained that terror and talks cannot go together while Pakistan has said India should reverse its August 5, 2019 move on Kashmir… I see no movement."
Meanwhile, Pakistan continues to face massive political turmoil with former PM Imran Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) calling for a major protest on October 15. Dar Sunday urged PTI to call off their protest call for the “national interest” of the country as Pakistan is hosting an international event after several years.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang will also be on a four-day bilateral visit to Pakistan. This visit is going to be crucial as this is the first time a high-level Chinese official will be visiting Pakistan since the suicide attack that took place in Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport on October 6 in which two Chinese nationals were killed.
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