SCO Meeting in Pakistan Live Updates: EAM Jaishakar departs for India from Islamabad after SCO summit

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar landed in Pakistan on Tuesday evening for the SCO heads of government meeting. He also attended a dinner, hosted by Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif for the delegates.

While both sides have ruled out any formal bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the SCO event, the minister as of now is expected to participate in the dinner and exchange pleasantries with host Shehbaz and counterpart Ishaq Dar, before the main summit on Wednesday.

Even though it won’t be a fleeting visit as was previously thought, Jaishankar will likely spend not more than 24 hours in Pakistan before flying back to India. Also read: After Jaishankar rules out bilateral talks during the SCO summit, Pakistan follows suit The minister will be in Pakistan on October 15-16 for what will be the first visit by any Indian foreign minister to the country in nearly a decade.

However, a day after India confirmed his visit to Pakistan, Jaishankar said he wasn’t going to Islamabad to discuss India’s ties with Pakistan but to be a ``good member’’ of the SCO, which counts India and Pakistan apart from Russia, China, Iran, and 4 Central Asian countries as member-states. India hasn’t allowed its differences with Pakistan on the issue of cross-border terrorism, or even the border tensions with China, to come in the way of its participation in the Eurasian bloc that is seen as playing an important role in ensuring regional security. Russia’s presence in the group has also been a motivating factor for India.

While a structured bilateral meeting is ruled out, a quick pull-aside, possibly behind the scenes, on the margins could still take place but India will expect Islamabad to propose any such meeting. India has continued to maintain that the onus for any forward movement in the relationship, which has not seen any substantive engagement between the 2 countries for the past 9 years, is on Pakistan. For any rapprochement, India sees as essential verifiable and irreversible action by Pakistan against terrorism, and also a review of its decision to downgrade ties after the Indian government revoked the special status of J&K. Pakistan, however, has remained focused on the issue of Kashmir with Dar saying Sunday Islamabad under Shehbaz hasn’t lost an opportunity to raise it along with the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang was also present at the event. In his SCO address, Jaishankar is expected to underscore India’s concerns about terrorism, the need to respect sovereignty and territorial integrity while undertaking connectivity and infrastructure initiatives and also to take up concerns of the Global South. The SCO Charter doesn’t allow any member-state to raise bilateral issues and it’s unlikely he will name Pakistan. The minister will represent PM Narendra Modi who had been invited by Shehbaz to participate in the meeting. However, Modi only participates in the heads of state summits and normally deputes the foreign minister to stand in for him at the heads of government meetings.