Ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting scheduled for October in Islamabad, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar announced that the era of “uninterrupted dialogue” with Pakistan has ended due to past actions having consequences.
“The era of uninterrupted dialogue with Pakistan is over. Actions have consequences. Regarding Jammu and Kashmir, Article 370 is a thing of the past. The question now is what kind of relationship we can envision with Pakistan. We are not passive; we will react to events, whether they turn positive or negative,” Jaishankar stated at an event in Delhi, noting that “neighbours are always a conundrum.”
Jaishankar also addressed relations with Bangladesh, stating, “It is natural to deal with the government of the day. Political changes can be disruptive, and we need to seek mutual interests.”
This statement follows Pakistan’s formal invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the upcoming SCO meeting. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch confirmed that Pakistan has invited all heads of government of SCO member states, including Modi, to the Council of Heads of Government (CHG) meeting in Islamabad, according to Geo News.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had previously denied media reports suggesting that PM Modi would skip the SCO summit in Pakistan.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, established on June 15, 2001, in Shanghai, is a permanent intergovernmental international organization. It originally emerged from the Shanghai Five mechanism and now includes nine member states: India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
(With agency inputs)