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Indian officials announced on Friday that Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will travel to Pakistan to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit this month, despite strained relations between the two countries.
This is the first visit of an Indian foreign minister to Pakistan in almost ten years. It is not clear, however, whether Jaishankar will hold two meetings with Pakistani leaders on the sidelines of the event.
Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated in 2019 when India abrogated Article 370 which gave the Muslim-majority region of Kashmir independence.
Jaishankar’s visit comes as India holds elections in the disputed Himalayan region, which Pakistan has denounced as illegal in an attempt to consolidate India’s power.
“Minister Jaishankar will lead the delegation of Pakistan to participate in the SCO summit, which is being held on October 15 and 16 in Islamabad,” the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs of India Randhir Jaiswal said during a press conference.
