Islamabad, Pakistan: After a gap of nearly eight years, India and Pakistan are believed to have once again decided to give peace a chance even as External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s visit to the capital city of Pakistan will be seen as slight opening of the tightly shut window in a major turn of events, multiple sources told ABP Live.
In what seemed to have been the first step towards sending out a positive signal, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar first agreed to visit Pakistan despite tensions back home with a diplomatic row raging between India and Canada. Notwithstanding the pressure, Jaishankar landed at the Nur Khan Airbase perfectly before the informal dinner hosted by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
During the dinner reception, hosted by PM Sharif, Jaishankar was seen having a “pull-aside” with Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, top-level diplomatic sources told ABP Live.
While entering the dinner venue, which was the Serena Hotel, Jaishankar shook hands with PM Sharif and both were seen having a brief conversation that went on for several seconds.
Sources also said, on Wednesday at the luncheon hosted by Sharif after the SCO plenary, Jaishankar and Dar were also seated next to each other and both ministers held a detailed conversation.
“Both foreign ministers held long conversations with each other during the lunch meeting and the body language was not at all aggressive,” said a source, who refused to be identified.
Pakistan, sources said, is also seeing the national statement given by Jaishankar to be a “mellowed down” version than the previous statement.
Despite the fact that India’s External Affairs Minister mentioned the fact that “activities across borders are characterized by terrorism, extremism and separatism” Islamabad is seeing this as “reiteration” of the SCO charter which mentions these aspects and not as a “direct or verbal attack” on Pakistan.
During his visit, not once did Jaishankar take Pakistan’s name explicitly nor did make indirect jibes unlike previous times.
Sources said, Pakistan is seeing a “visible change in tone” from what Jaishankar had stated and the way India behaved during the SCO Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in Goa in 2023 when former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had visited India to attend the conference.
“Thank you for your kind message and participation @DrSJaishankar in 23rd Meeting of SCO-CHG. Pakistan was honoured to host SCO Member States in Islamabad,” Dar said while quote tweeting Jaishankar departure tweet.
Jaishankar said before leaving Pakistan, “Departing from Islamabad. Thank PM @CMShehbaz, DPM & FM @MIshaqDar50 and the Government of Pakistan for the hospitality and courtesies.”
Two-way ties between India and Pakistan came to a halt in September 2016 after India said it has conducted a “surgical strike” on Pakistani territory. Eventually diplomatic ties hit nadir when former Prime Minister Imran Khan downgraded diplomatic ties by recalling their High Commissioner post New Delhi’s move to abrogate Article 370 and 35A from Kashmir.
Sources have said both sides might first appoint High Commissioners in each other’s countries as the “first sign” of thaw.
‘Slip Between A Cup And Lip’
Sources also said while India and Pakistan both are seeing the visit and the ensuing meetings between the two as a “positive signal”.
According to another source, at the SCO meeting in Islamabad, “all leaders interacted with each other at the holding room and at the lunch” including PM Sharif and External Affairs Minister Jaishankar.
This also needs to be noted here that both sides made it clear that there was no proposal from either side. Therefore, surprisingly, there was no bilateral or pull aside but in lounge and lunch all leaders talked to each other, said a source who was present at Wednesday’s luncheon meeting.
According to the sources, there had been some discussion on the recently concluded assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. However, it needs to be mentioned here that Kashmir being a disputed issue between both sides, Islamabad does not recognise the elections that are held there.
“There has been some thawing that happened today … The Kashmir issue has to be discussed but there is always a slip between the cup and the lip,” said a Pakistani source.
Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives had told reporters on Tuesday that Pakistan will be willing to hold bilateral talks if India makes a formal proposal. In this case, it was India that had to make the formal proposal as Pakistan was the host.
“We need to go back to the spirit of the Lahore Declaration. That was the high point between the leaderships of both countries… I think that is the spirit for both countries to move forward. If we go back to the spirit of the Lahore Declaration, I think there is no problem that we cannot solve together,” said Iqbal.
India and Pakistan have fought three full-fledged wars since India was partitioned and Pakistan came into existence in 1947.