- By Abhishek Sheoran
- Mon, 14 Oct 2024 01:13 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is set to visit Pakistan on Tuesday to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, which is taking place in Islamabad. Security has been heightened in Pakistan’s capital in view of the visit by dignitaries from various countries.
Key leaders expected to attend the meeting include, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and S Jaishankar.
ALSO READ: NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Set To Launch Spacecraft To Probe Signs Of Life On Jupiter's Moon Europa
Jaishankar will arrive just in time for a welcome dinner hosted by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, scheduled ahead of the formal summit proceedings on Wednesday, as per a report in TOI.
Both sides have, however, ruled out the possibility of bilateral talks on the sidelines of the event.
Earlier this month, India announced that Jaishankar would head a delegation to Pakistan for the SCO summit in Islamabad. However, Minister Jaishankar stated that there would be no opportunities for bilateral talks during his visit.
Upon being asked about Jaishankar’s stance, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said, “I would like you to refer to the remarks made by the Indian Minister for External Affairs on 5th of October, 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.”
Meanwhile, India has flagged Pakistan foreign minister Ishaq Dar’s remark on Kashmir ahead of the summit. As per the source in the external affairs ministry, cited by News 18, India categorically said the multilateral event “was being disregarded by shifting focus on Kashmir.”
The 23rd meeting of the heads of government of SCO member states is scheduled to be held in Islamabad on October 15 and 16, with tight security arrangements in place. Foreign delegations began arriving on Sunday, including a 76-member Russian contingent and seven officials from the SCO Secretariat.
