Shahbaz Sharif welcomed Jaishankar, Foreign Minister planted a sapling in the Indian High Commission
Islamabad, October 16 (IANS). Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif welcomed Foreign Minister S Jaishankar at the venue of the SCO summit in Islamabad on Wednesday. Earlier, Jaishankar took a morning walk at the Indian High Commission campus in Pakistan and planted a sapling while promoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ campaign.
“Morning walk at our High Commission campus with colleagues from the Indian High Commission team in Pakistan,” the External Affairs Minister wrote on Twitter.
In another post, he wrote, ‘Another commitment towards Arjun’s sapling on campus #PlantForMother. #name_of_a_tree_mother’
The Foreign Minister is in Islamabad to attend the 23rd meeting of the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) Council of Heads of Government (CHG). The event began on Tuesday evening with a welcome dinner hosted by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
This is the first visit of an Indian Foreign Minister to Pakistan in 9 years. Former external affairs minister late Sushma Swaraj had visited Islamabad in 2015 to attend a security conference on Afghanistan.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Indian delegation led by Foreign Minister Jaishankar reached Noor Khan Airbase in Rawalpindi.
A statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs before Jaishankar’s departure on Tuesday said, “The SCO CHG meeting is held annually and focuses on the trade and economic agenda of the organization. External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar will be India’s representative at the meeting. Will represent. India is actively involved in the SCO framework.”
Other SCO member states will be represented by the prime ministers of China, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as the First Vice President of Iran.
Prime Minister of Mongolia (observer state) and Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan (special guest) are also participating in the meeting.
Although External Affairs Minister Jaishankar is expected to stay in Islamabad for only 24 hours and there is no bilateral meeting scheduled between India and Pakistan during the meeting, many ministers and opposition leaders of the ruling government in Pakistan have sought to exploit his arrival for domestic political gains. Have focused on.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MP and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) information advisor Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif invited Jaishankar to meet PTI workers, who are holding a protest rally in the country’s capital.
Saif said, “All the foreign delegations coming to Islamabad for the SCO summit will be happy to see our protest and will appreciate the democratic practices and strength of our country… We also invite Jaishankar to address our anti-government protest.” And he will see for himself how strong Pakistan’s democracy is.”
–IANS
mk/
