'No bilateral talks': Jaishankar on his upcoming visit to Pakistan for SCO

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is set to visit Pakistan for the SCO summit on October 15-16, marking the first visit by an Indian foreign minister to the Islamic nation in nearly a decade

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday noted that his upcoming visit to Pakistan will be for a multilateral event and he is not going to have any discussions on India and Pakistan ties. Jaishankar will be visiting Pakistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit on October 15-16. 

“I am going there to be a good member of the SCO. But, you know, since I’m a courteous and civil person, I will behave myself accordingly,” Jaishankar said, while delivering the ‘Sardar Patel Lecture on Governance’, organised by IC Centre for Governance in New Delhi.

What is the SCO Summit?

The SCO is an intergovernmental organisation that was established in 2001 in China’s Shanghai by six members: China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. At present, the forum has expanded to include a total of nine member states, including India, which became a permanent member of the forum in 2017. Pakistan was also incorporated as a member in the same year. Iran is also a permanent member of the body.

The SCO consists of two main bodies: the Beijing-based Secretariat, and the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) located in Tashkent.

The organisation also has three observer states: Afghanistan, Belarus, and Mongolia; and 14 other dialogue partners, including Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, among others.

Army deployed for security

Given the high-profile event, the Pakistani government has decided to deploy the army for the security of the summit, while designating Islamabad as a ‘red alert zone’.

On Friday, the external affairs ministry had confirmed about Jaishankar’s visit but did not say if the foreign minister would meet any Pakistani leaders on the sidelines. This will be the first visit by an Indian foreign minister to Pakistan in nearly a decade.