External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar meets Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad during SCO summit

In a rare diplomatic development, India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad on Tuesday, marking the first high-level bilateral interaction between the two neighbours in nearly nine years.

The two leaders exchanged greetings and shook hands during an informal dinner hosted by Prime Minister Sharif ahead of the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads of Government (CHG) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which Pakistan is hosting this year.

The visit is being seen as a significant diplomatic step by New Delhi, given that relations between India and Pakistan have remained tense over cross-border terrorism and political mistrust.

Jaishankar’s visit also marks the first time since 2015 that an Indian foreign minister has travelled to Pakistan. The last visit was by Sushma Swaraj, who attended the Heart of Asia Conference in Islamabad in December 2015.

In August, Pakistan had formally invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the SCO Summit, but India decided that the External Affairs Minister would represent the country instead.

Analysts say the brief interaction between Jaishankar and Sharif, though symbolic, could help revive limited diplomatic communication between the two nuclear-armed neighbours under the multilateral umbrella of the SCO.