AMN
India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will embark on a two-day visit to Islamabad tomorrow, Tuesday to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit. The External Affairs Minister had earlier remarked that his Pakistan visit is for a multilateral event and he had ruled out bilateral talks. This will be the first high-level visit of an Indian Foreign Minister to the neighbouring nation in nine years.
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation. It comprises nine member states – India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The SCO focuses on strengthening mutual trust among the Member States, promoting their effective cooperation in politics, trade, economy, research, technology, and culture.
Relations between India and Pakistan remain strained, to put it lightly, as tensions over Kashmir, Article 370 and terrorism have dominated the ties between the two neighbouring countries. The upcoming SCO meeting is under the microscope over persistent security threats involving a recent attack on a convoy carrying foreign ambassadors and a bombing outside Pakistan’s largest airport.