Islamabad/New Delhi, Oct 16 (UNI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday evening left the Pakistani capital for India after attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Heads of Government Summit.
In a post on X, the EAM thanked the Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and the government of Pakistan for the hospitality and courtesies.
The EAM was in Islamabad for around 24 hours. He had said at the outset that he was visiting Islamabad only to attend the SCO Summit and nothing more should be seen into his visit, ruling out bilateral talks. India has said that talks and terror cannot go together, and that Pakistan has to give up fostering cross-border terrorism if it wants to hold bilateral talks with India.
In a post on X, the EAM said:
“Departing from Islamabad. Thank PM @CMShehbaz, DPM & FM
@MIshaqDar50 and the Government of Pakistan for the hospitality and courtesies.”
Earlier, on October 5 while speaking at an event in New Delhi, the EAM when asked about the upcoming SCO summit had said that he was not going to Islamabad to discuss India-Pakistan relations, but as a “good member of the SCO”. He had also said that since he is “a courteous and civil person” he will behave himself accordingly there.
While in Islamabad, the EAM shook hands and made polite conversation with Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif and DPM and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, and kept away from any controversy, unlike then Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto who during his visit to Goa for the SCO Summit last year had raked up the Kashmir issue and kicked up a huge unpleasant controversy.
