Islamabad: India‘s Foreign Minister reached Islamabad on Tuesday to attend the <a href="https://time.news/shahbaz-sharif-and-putin-meet-in-sco-summit-2024-kazakhstan-discuss-trade-big-payment-problem-barter-russias-big-offer-to-indias-enemy-pakistan-but-shahbazs-one-condition-can-spoil-the-game-know/" title="Shahbaz Sharif and Putin meet in SCO Summit 2024 Kazakhstan Discuss Trade Big Payment Problem Barter- Russia's big offer to India's enemy Pakistan but Shahbaz's one condition can spoil the game, know here
– 2024-07-04 04:18:26″>SCO summit. He returned on Wednesday after attending the meeting and spending about 24 hours in Pakistan. During this period, Jaishankar did not have bilateral talks with Pakistani leaders, but he did have informal talks with Pakistan PM Shahbaz Sharif and other leaders. Jaishankar also thanked Shehbaz Sharif and the Pakistani government for the hospitality while returning to Delhi from Islamabad. In such a situation, the question is being asked whether the ice frozen in both the countries has melted. According to the report of Financial Express, the visit of Jaishankar and Indian journalists to Islamabad for the SCO summit is special because it has happened after almost a decade. Earlier in 2015, the then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had gone to Islamabad to participate in the Hearts of Asia Summit. Now when Jaishankar went, the eyes of the world were fixed on his visit because the age-old complexities of bilateral relations between India and Pakistan are not hidden from anyone.
Pakistan’s internal politics also became difficult
The SCO meeting and Jaishankar’s visit have taken place at a time when Pakistan’s politics is in turmoil. Workers of jailed former PM Imran Khan’s party are continuously protesting against the government. Many Pakistani politicians have also blamed India for this. This rhetoric before the SCO meeting only weakened hopes of possible bilateral engagement between India and Pakistan.
The SCO has expanded in recent years. India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are full members. Three countries – Afghanistan, Belarus and Mongolia – are observers of the SCO and fourteen countries – Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bahrain, Cambodia, Egypt, Kuwait, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Turkey and the UAE – are dialogue partners.
India-Pakistan relations weaken SCO!
SCO members represent 40 percent of the global population and 32 percent of the world’s GDP. Despite this, the tension between its two influential members (India-Pakistan) weakens its effectiveness. Experts are hopeful from Jaishankar’s visit that this visit will not promote cooperation but can be helpful in keeping differences behind.
Experts say that despite Jaishankar’s high profile visit, it is clear that there are little hopes for progress in India-Pakistan relations. Despite this, diplomacy is a long game and a lot happens behind the scenes. In such a situation, experts believe that it is possible that some positive impact of this visit may be seen in the future.