New Delhi:
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday denied meeting former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the recently-concluded Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Islamabad.
“I am a good SCO member. We were very supportive and wanted the proceeding to be smooth. Haath milaya aur aa gaye wapis (shook hands and came back),” he said at the NDTV World Summit 2024.
S Jaishankar was referring to a brief interaction with Mr Sharif at an official dinner held for all the summit attendees. The two leaders shook hands and exchanged a courtesy greeting as Mr Sharif welcomed Mr Jaishankar for the official dinner for SCO leaders. Few words were spoken during the interaction that lasted less than twenty seconds.
The Union Minister’s Pakistan visit for the first by an Indian minister in nearly ten years. The last visit by an Indian foreign minister was by Sushma Swaraj.
At his speech at the meeting of the Heads of Government, S Jaishankar flagged concerns over terrorism and extremism. In a veiled message to Pakistan, he said that cooperation in areas like trade is unlikely to flourish if cross-border activities are characterised by terrorism.
Mr Jaishankar also said Indian and Chinese soldiers will be able to resume patrolling in the way they had been doing before the border face-off began in May 2020. His statement came hours after Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri announced India and China have arrived on a patrolling arrangement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Himalayas, and it can lead to disengagement and resolution of tension.
