Senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Friday questioned External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's recent visit to Pakistan and accusing him of creating 'false hopes' on normalisation of India-Pakistan relations.
While speaking to IANS, Aiyar asked why the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar did not specify earlier on the nature of his visit to Islamabad.
Why did Jaishankar tell Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar that the deliberation on India-Pakistan ties could be held afterwards? Such statements only create unneccessary expectations and bring uncertainty,' he said.
Jaishankar visited Pakistan on October 15, 2024, to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, which is the first time in nearly a decade an Indian minister is visiting Pakistan.
Among other things, during the two-day visit, Jaishankar met in an informal talks with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and his finance counterpart Ishaq Dar although proper bilateral deliberation was not made there.
The decision to send Jaishankar to Pakistan is perceived as an attempt to reaffirm India's commitment to the SCO.
Jaishankar, in his public address, said that though India desires proper relations with its neighbors, "that cannot happen while overlooking cross-border terrorism." He also clarified that "this visit is not to discuss bilateral relations with Pakistan but to carry out multilateral discussions" at the SCO summit.
"I am here only to be a good member of the SCO," Jaishankar had said.
Matters have gone worse after Pakistan recalled its high commissioner in August 2019 after India announced that it was revoking Jammu and Kashmir's special status. The two countries have had frosty relations since the failed attempt to restart the dialogue process in 2015.
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