Islamabad. Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif welcomed Foreign Minister S Jaishankar at the venue of the SCO summit in Islamabad on Wednesday. Earlier, Jaishankar took a morning walk at the Indian High Commission campus in Pakistan and planted a sapling while promoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ campaign. The External Affairs Minister wrote on Twitter, “Morning walk at our High Commission campus with colleagues from the Indian High Commission team in Pakistan. In another post, he wrote, ‘Another commitment towards Arjun’s sapling on campus #PlantForMother. #एक_पेद_मा_के_नाम The Foreign Minister is in Islamabad to attend the 23rd meeting of the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) Council of Heads of Government (CHG). The event started on Tuesday evening with a welcome dinner hosted by Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif. This is the first visit of an Indian Foreign Minister to Pakistan in 9 years. Former external affairs minister late Sushma Swaraj had visited Islamabad in 2015 to attend a security conference on Afghanistan. On Tuesday afternoon, the Indian delegation led by Foreign Minister Jaishankar reached Noor Khan Airbase in Rawalpindi. A statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs before Jaishankar’s departure on Tuesday said, “The SCO CHG meeting is held annually and focuses on the trade and economic agenda of the organization. Foreign Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar will represent India in the meeting. India is actively involved in the SCO framework.
Other SCO member states will be represented by the prime ministers of China, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as the First Vice President of Iran. Prime Minister of Mongolia (observer state) and Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan (special guest) are also participating in the meeting. Although External Affairs Minister Jaishankar is expected to stay in Islamabad for only 24 hours and there is no bilateral meeting scheduled between India and Pakistan during the meeting, despite this, many ministers and opposition leaders of the ruling government in Pakistan have expressed their concern over domestic political gains. The focus is on his arrival. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MP and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) information advisor Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif invited Jaishankar to meet PTI workers, who are holding a protest rally in the country’s capital. Saif said that all the foreign delegations coming to Islamabad for the SCO Summit will be happy to see our protest and will appreciate the democratic practices and strength of our country… We also invite Jaishankar to address our anti-government protest. Will do and he will see for himself how strong Pakistan’s democracy is.