Indian FM rules out bilateral talks during SCO Summit in Pakistan

Hopes for diplomatic breakthrough dashed as prominent Kashmir leader urges India and Pakistan to ‘break the ice and engage constructively’.

India’s foreign minister has ruled out discussing bilateral relations with rival Pakistan as he is scheduled to embark on his first trip to the neighbouring country in nearly a decade to attend the 2024 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told reporters on Saturday that he expects “a lot of media interest” in the possibility of speaking to his Pakistani counterpart at the two-day summit about the two countries’ relations, which remain in a deep freeze since a deadly armed attack in Indian-administered Kashmir in 2019.

“But I do want to say it will be for a multilateral event. I am not going there to discuss India-Pakistan relations,” he added.

“I am going there to be a good member of the SCO, but since I am a courteous and civil person, I will behave myself accordingly.”

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs confirmed on Friday that Jaishankar would attend the summit from October 15 to 16, which India chaired last year, but did not say if he would meet any Pakistani leaders on the sidelines.

Earlier this year, the foreign minister said India would want to find “a solution to the issue of years-old cross-border terrorism”, adding it cannot be the “policy of a good neighbour”.

India has accused Pakistan of backing armed rebels in Kashmir – a charge Islamabad has denied. Pakistan has insisted it only provides political and moral backing to what it calls Kashmir’s “freedom fighters”.

Pakistan downgraded its diplomatic relations with India and suspended bilateral trade after Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi stripped the limited