ISLAMABAD, Oct 16: The first visit to Pakistan by a top Indian diplomat in nearly 10 years was an "ice breaker", the information minister said Wednesday, as regional heads of governments gathered for a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.
Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan are bitter adversaries with longstanding political tensions, having fought several wars and numerous smaller skirmishes since they were carved out of the subcontinent's partition in 1947.
"Neither us nor them requested for a bilateral meeting... but I believe his arrival here is an ice breaker," the information minister Attaullah Tarar said on the sidelines of the summit in the capital Islamabad.
"Yesterday, when all the leaders were being welcomed and there were handshakes, I think positive images were sent out globally."
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam 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 SCO bloc on Tuesday.
Relations between neighbours India and Pakistan have been particularly sour since 2019, when 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.
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.
Premiers from SCO member states China, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan all attended the meeting in a Pakistani capital that was locked down by tight security.
Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar emphasised the need for territorial integrity and cooperation based on mutual respect, in his remarks at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Pakistan on Wednesday.
In the first visit by an Indian foreign minister to Pakistan since Sushma Swaraj's 2015 tour, Jaishankar called terrorism, extremism and separatism "three evils". He added that cooperation between countries is built on genuine partnerships, not unilateral agendas.
Jaishankar mentioned the Israel-Hamas-Hezbollah and Russia-Ukraine conflicts, along with the Covid pandemic, to state that the summit comes at a "difficult time in world affairs".
"Disruptions of various kinds - ranging from extreme climate events to supply chain uncertainties and financial volatility - impact growth and development. Debt is a serious concern, even as the world falls behind in achieving Sustainable Development targets. Technology holds great promise, as well as raising a new host of concerns. How should the members of the SCO respond to these challenges?" he said.
The EAM also stressed the need for multi-faceted regional cooperation, to drive growth and conflict prevention. "Activities across borders characterised by terrorism and extremism are unlikely to encourage trade, energy flows, connectivity," Jaishankar said. AFP, NDTV
