Islamabad. It would have been better if PM Modi had come to attend the SCO meeting, I hope to meet him. Former PM of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif said this before the SCO meeting in Pakistan from Tuesday, 15th October. Pakistan had sent an SCO invitation to PM Modi in August, but due to poor relations between the two countries, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar is attending this meeting.
Jaishankar will spend 24 hours there. The Foreign Minister has already made it clear before going to Pakistan that the purpose of going there is only for the SCO meeting, there will be no discussion on the relations between the two countries. Apart from India, representatives of ten countries including Russia and China are also attending this meeting. In view of this, a lockdown has been imposed in Islamabad to strengthen security. Also, holiday has been declared for three days in the entire city.
Foreign Minister Jaishankar is the first leader of India to visit Pakistan after almost eight months. That’s why this tour is special. Before that, on 25 December 2015, Indian PM Narendra Modi had visited Pakistan. Then Modi went to Lahore on a surprise visit. He had met Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif. Since his visit, no PM or minister of India has visited Pakistan.