Jaishankar’s visit to Pakistan a ‘positive development’, says former foreign minister

Pakistan’s former foreign minister Khursheed Mahmood Kasuri has termed External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s upcoming visit to Islamabad a “positive development”, saying it may help ease tensions between the two neighbours.

India on Friday announced that Jaishankar would lead a delegation to Pakistan to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, scheduled to take place on October 15 and 16 in Islamabad. However, Jaishankar ruled out chances of bilateral talks during his visit to Pakistan.

“Jaishankar’s visit is of multilateral nature, nevertheless it may help ease tensions between the two neighbouring countries,” Kasuri was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper on Sunday.

Kasuri, who served as Pakistan’s foreign minister from 2002 until 2007 during Gen Pervez Musharraf’s regime, said that both countries must seize this opportunity.

“Resuming dialogue will help restore people-to-people contacts and may pave the way for restoration of road, rail and air links,” he said.

Kasuri suggested that at the time of great tensions in West Asia, where Israel had been targeting the people of Gaza and Lebanon, Pakistan and India might have been encouraged to lower tensions, the paper said.

“At the time of the ceasefire between the two countries in the past, the UAE ambassador claimed to have played a role,” he said and added both the countries were nuclear powers and had a strong army so it was in their mutual interest to lower tension in the region.

“In such a situation, both Pakistan and India need to act responsibly and reasonably. This is a crucial moment that requires thoughtful and measured actions to ensure regional stability,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.

Kasuri said that given the tensions between the two countries, India could have sent a low-level delegation but it didn’t. He said Pak-India relations were unpredictable and they could take unexpected turns as happened on many occasions in the past.

He said it should not be forgotten that the late external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had also visited Islamabad in 2015 to attend the Heart of Asia Conference amidst tensions between the two countries.

“Despite that, the meeting was utilised by both sides for sidelines meetings between the two foreign ministers,” Kasuri said.

The ties between India and Pakistan came under severe strain after India’s warplanes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Balakot in Pakistan in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack.

The relations further deteriorated after India on August 5, 2019 announced the withdrawal of special powers of Jammu and Kashmir and the bifurcation of the state into two union territories.

Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties with India after New Delhi abrogated Article 370.

India has been maintaining that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan while insisting that the onus is on Islamabad to create an environment free of terror and hostility for such engagement.