"We must clearly tell this is only multilateral meeting...": Former Indian envoy on Jaishankar's participation in SCO meeting

Reacting to Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal's announcement that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will participate in SCO meeting in Pakistan, Bambawale said, "The meeting taking place in Islamabad is the annual meeting of SCO heads of government. So, the prime ministers of Russia, the prime minister of China, the prime minister of Kazakhstan and other countries will be there. But, our prime minister attends the heads of state summit. So at this meeting, normally in the past also, the external affairs minister has been attending.

"And this time also the government has taken the right decision that SCO is very important for India so the external affairs minister of India Dr Jaishankar will lead the delegation. However, we must clearly tell the people in Pakistan and the government of Pakistan that this is only a multilateral meeting and there will be no bilateral discussions between India and Pakistan. I think it is very important to convey this message to the Pakistani authorities," he added.

Asked whether Pakistan will take India's participation either way, he said, "No, since Pakistan is hosting this meeting, they will be happy that India is also attending it at the level that we normally attend this meeting which is at the external affairs minister's level or ministerial level. Let me say in the past, also India has been represented at this meeting by a former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, by other ministers who have also attended it. This time our External Affairs Minister Dr Jaishankar will be attending it as the leader of the Indian delegation."

On being asked whether India's participation will have an impact on bilateral ties, he said, "No. I think no. I think what will happen is that Pakistan will be happy that when they are hosting this meeting that India has also attended it. So I think they will be quite happy with that. But, we should clearly convey to Pakistan that there is no bilateral discussions which will be held when our minister goes there."

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is a permanent intergovernmental international organization established on June 15, 2001, in Shanghai by Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.Its predecessor was the mechanism of the Shanghai Five.

Currently, the SCO countries include nine Member States -- India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.The SCO has three Observer States - Afghanistan, Mongolia and Belarus.

At the Samarkand SCO Summit in 2022, the process of raising the status of Belarus within the Organization to the level of a member state started. The SCO has 14 Dialogue Partners - Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bahrain, Egypt, Cambodia, Qatar, Kuwait, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Sri Lanka.

Defence expert Ranjeet Rai said that Jaishankar will be the first Indian Minister to visit Pakistan since 2016. He recalled Jaishankar's remarks regarding Pakistan at the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

On Jaishankar participating in the upcoming SCO Summit, Ranjeet Rai says, "People were thinking that probably PM Modi will attend that meeting but now, the MEA has said that EAM S Jaishankar will attend the SCO meeting of Heads of Govt. Recently, S Jaishankar in the United Nations has said that the economic condition of Pakistan worsened because of terrorism, they have lost friends and the situation of Pakistan in the region has also deteriorated. After 2016, he is the first Indian minister to visit Pakistan officially or unofficially. This is a happy news that S Jaishankar will represent India at SCO meeting."

Jammu and Kashmir's former Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Kavinder Gupta said that Jaishankar very well puts forward India's stance at international forums.

On Jaishankar's upcoming visit to Pakistan for the SCO Summit, Kavinder Gupta said, "Meetings like this of different forums are organised in different parts of the world. He (S Jaishankar) is going there in that regard. But, he keeps India's position at international forums very well. He has established the image of Pakistan as a fortress for terrorism in the world. He is an experienced and sorted leader of ours."

National Conference provincial president, Rattan Lal Gupta, said that his party welcomes government's decision to participate in SCO meeting. He said that NC has always called for maintaining good relations with neighbours.

He said, "We welcome this. I think this is a very good time because the National Conference has always said that we should have good relations with our neighbours, especially with Pakistan and that we should have dialogues with them. So, now that the Foreign Minister of India is going to Pakistan, we welcome it and I hope new avenues for dialogue will open up. Like how former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee said we can change friends but not neighbours. We believe that if we have good relations with our neighbours, they will progress and we will also progress."

On being asked about the government's decision to participate in the SCO Summit, Congress leader Harish Rawat said, "Govt needs to decide, all our neighbouring countries are hostile due to the govts formed their and their anti-India agenda is clearly visible...Central govt should decide how we want to stand among our neighbours. We are together on such issues of national interest, we are with central govt but you can't do both the things, you can't say one thing inside the country for political advantage and after that take a different step."

Pakistan, which holds the rotating chairmanship of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), is scheduled to host the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) in in Islamabad for October this year, Geo News reported. Earlier in August, India received an invitation from Pakistan for the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) in-person meeting. While addressing a briefing in August, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, confirmed the invitation by Islamabad for the SCO meeting. (ANI)