EAM Jaishankar rules out bilateral talks during SCO visit to Pakistan: 'Not going there to discuss India-Pak'

India's External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar said on Saturday (Oct 5) that there are no plans to engage in talks with Pakistan during his upcoming visit to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting.

The EAM stressed that his trip to Pakistan was purely for the SCO summit. "Yes, I am scheduled to go to Pakistan in the middle of this month and that is for the meeting of the SCO — the heads of government meeting," he said during the Sardar Patel Lecture on Governance organised by the IC Centre for Governance in New Delhi.

Also read: 'Some of the women...': Trump makes tasteless joke about firefighter's wife

Jaishankar also addressed the likely media attention surrounding the visit due to the nature of India-Pakistan relations. "I expect that there would be a lot of media interest because the very nature of the relationship is such and I think we will deal with it. But, I do want to say it will be there for a multilateral event, I mean I am not going there to discuss India-Pakistan relations. I am going there to be a good member of the SCO. Since I am a courteous and civil person, I will behave myself accordingly," the EAM said.

Jaishankar further added that this year's SCO summit is being hosted in Islamabad, as Pakistan, like India, recently joined the organisation. He added, "Normally, the Prime Minister goes to the high-level meeting, the heads of state, that’s in line with the tradition. It so happens that the meeting is taking place in Pakistan, because, like us, they are a relatively recent member."

During his speech, Jaishankar also appeared to indirectly criticise Pakistan, blaming it for the lack of progress in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

He said, "At the moment SAARC is not moving forward, we haven't had a meeting of SAARC for a very simple reason - there is one member of SAARC who is practising cross-border terrorism at least against one more member of SAARC, maybe more... Terrorism is something which is unacceptable and despite a global view of it if one of our neighbours continues to do it - there cannot be business as usual in SAARC."

Also Read: Pakistan locks down capital, suspends internet services to stop rally by Imran Khan's party supporters

"That's the reason why the SAARC meeting has not happened in recent years - but it doesn't mean that the regional activities have stopped. In fact, in the last 5-6 years, we have seen far more regional integration in the Indian subcontinent," he added.

India remains firm on its stance of not holding bilateral talks with Pakistan until it puts an end to cross-border terrorism.

(With inputs from agencies)