Chicago – October 16, 2024
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar landed in Pakistan on Tuesday for a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, the first top diplomat from Delhi to visit the country’s arch-rival neighbour in nearly a decade.
Jaishankar and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif greeted each other with a handshake and sombre expressions at the start of an official dinner for the visiting leaders of the bloc.
Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan are bitter adversaries with longstanding political tensions, having fought three wars and numerous smaller skirmishes since they were carved out of the subcontinent’s partition in 1947.
The Himalayan region of Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed by both in full, with each accusing the other of stoking militancy there.
Relations have been particularly sour since 2019, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi revoked the limited autonomy of Indian-administered Kashmir.
Modi’s 2019 move was celebrated across India but led Pakistan to suspend bilateral trade and downgrade diplomatic ties with New Delhi.
Jaishankar arrived at an airbase near the capital Islamabad, where he was met by a low-level delegation, unlike other leaders who were welcomed by senior ministers.
The neighbouring governments have said that no bilateral meetings have been requested, and Jaishankar’s visit will strictly follow the SCO schedule.
