From 15 to 16 October, Pakistan will host the heads of government meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). In this meeting, the Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam. Jaishankar will be representing India. This would be first such visit by an Indian foreign minister to Pakistan in a decade. New Delhi’s decision to attend the SCO meeting in Islamabad was motivated by their standing and commitment with SCO. This decision should be seen through the angle that there are already whispers that New Delhi might be having second thoughts about its partaking in SCO. Those who hold this view point to PM Modi’s decision not to attend the Astana meeting and holding the 2023 summit, it hosted virtually.

However, despite this growing perception, one yet has to see a concrete evidence that New Delhi is deviating away from the SCO, at least in the near future. Indian foreign minister S. Jaishanker’s visit to Islamabad would be a first visit by an Indian government official to Pakistan in a decade, it is hardly surprising that it generated a lot of hubbub that this opportunity could be used to break ice at the bilateral level and whether some progress would be made. Mr. Jaishanker was quick in ruling out any discussion on bilateral relations with Pakistan. According to........

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