New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will visit Pakistan later in October to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), as reported by PTI.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal made the announcement on Friday. Pakistan will host the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) meeting on October 15 and 16. The last Indian External Affairs Minister to visit Pakistan was Sushma Swaraj, who travelled to Islamabad in December 2015 for a conference on Afghanistan.

"The external affairs minister will lead our delegation to Pakistan to participate in the SCO summit, which will be held in Islamabad on October 15 and 16," Jaiswal said during his weekly media briefing. He clarified that Jaishankar’s visit to Pakistan was solely for the purpose of attending the SCO summit.

In August, Pakistan extended an invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the SCO summit. Jaishankar’s upcoming visit to Pakistan is seen as a significant decision by New Delhi, underlining India's commitment to the SCO, a key player in fostering regional security cooperation.

Relations between India and Pakistan have been strained since February 2019, when Indian warplanes targeted a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Balakot, Pakistan, following the Pulwama terror attack. Tensions further escalated in August 2019 when India revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into two union territories.

India has consistently expressed a desire for normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan, emphasising that it is Islamabad’s responsibility to create an environment free from terrorism and hostility to facilitate such engagement.

The SCO Council of Heads of Government conclave is the second-highest platform within the organisation, while the SCO Heads of State summit, typically attended by the Indian Prime Minister, is the top forum.

The SCO, comprising India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, is a major economic and security bloc and one of the largest transregional international organisations. India became a full member of the SCO in 2017 after gaining observer status in 2005. It chaired the SCO last year and hosted the summit in July in a virtual format.

India has shown a strong interest in strengthening security cooperation with the SCO, particularly its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which focuses on security and defence matters. The SCO was established in 2001 at a summit in Shanghai by the presidents of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, with India and Pakistan becoming permanent members in 2017.

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