Indian FM joins regional leaders

Islamabad prepares for moot amid tight security, Shehbaz-Jaishankar handshake steals spotlight

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan is all set to host the 23rd meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Heads of Governments (CHG), the second highest forum of the key regional grouping, on Wednesday (today) amid unprecedented security in Islamabad.

Prime ministers of several member states arrived in the capital on Tuesday for the first high level regional summit Pakistan is hosting after nearly two decades. The Eurasian regional forum formed in 2001 comprises China, Russia, Pakistan, India, Iran, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Except India all other countries are represented by either their prime ministers or vice president. Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar arrived in the capital on Tuesday afternoon. He was received by senior Foreign Office officials at the Nur Khan Airbase.

Later, Jaishankar attended the dinner hosted by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the honour of the heads of the SCO delegations. Prime Minister Shehbaz shook hands with the Indian Foreign Minister and the two had a brief conversation.

This was the first public handshake between leaders of the two countries since 2017. In May last year when then foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari travelled to Goa for the SCO council of foreign ministers meeting, his Indian counterpart Jaishankar did not shake hands with him. Instead the Indian foreign minister greeted Bilawal and other guests with a 'Namaste' – greetings with folded hands.

This is the first visit by any Indian foreign minister to Pakistan since 2015. Former foreign minister Sushma Swaraj, who was accompanied by Jaishankar as he was the foreign secretary at the time, visited Islamabad in December 2015 for the heart of Asia conference on Afghanistan.

Swaraj had held a bilateral meeting with then Pakistani foreign minister Sartaj Aziz. Those talks came against the backdrop of backchannel diplomacy that prompted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make a surprise stopover in Lahore a few days later.

But this time the circumstances are entirely different. Relations between Pakistan and India are at standstill. The Indian foreign minister before departing for Islamabad made it clear that he had no intention to hold a bilateral meeting with Pakistan during his visit to Pakistan.

The Pakistani side confirmed that neither New Delhi nor Islamabad requested for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the SCO summit. Observers believe that the Jaishankar is visiting Pakistan since the SCO is an important forum, given the presence of China and Russia, the two major world powers.

Except Russia and Iran, all other heads of delegations including prime ministers of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan reached the federal capital. The Russian prime minister and the first vice President of Iran were to arrive later on Tuesday night. The Chinese premier is already in Islamabad ahead of the SCO meeting.

Meanwhile, all arrangements have been finalised for the summit. As per plan, Prime Minister Shehbaz, being the host of the conference, will receive heads of delegations at the start of the conference.

Shehbaz will then make an opening statement, while other leaders will give their speeches. A joint communiqué will be issued at the end of the 23rd council of heads of the governments.

The agenda includes counter terrorism, regional connectivity and other issues of mutual interests. Since the conference is taking place at a critical time when many regional developments are happening, it is expected that issues such as the current tensions in the Middle East may come up for discussions.