Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar participated in the recently concluded Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit held in Pakistan. He also exchanged courtesies with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif. And Shehbaz’s brother former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has given a message that this friendship should be taken further.
PML-N leader’s request to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the two countries have already wasted 75 years of enmity. Another 75 years should not be wasted.
Talking to India Today, Nawaz said, ‘India is our neighbor, no matter how hard we try, it cannot be changed. We would have been happy if Modi had come to the SCO summit. But we are also happy that Jaishankar has come. We have repeatedly tried to fix the relationship between the two countries. We have wasted the last 75 years. Another 75 years should not be wasted’.
Nawaz alleged that Pakistan’s relations with India had deteriorated significantly during Imran Khan’s tenure as Prime Minister.
The SCO Summit was held under the chairmanship of Pakistan on October 15 and 16. As usual, Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif invited the heads of state of all the member countries. Last August, the invitation letter went to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But due to deteriorating bilateral relations between the two countries, Modi did not attend the summit. Later, after various speculations, India announced that Foreign Minister S Jaishankar will go to Pakistan to attend the SCO Summit.
India’s visit to Pakistan after almost 9 years has been at the center of discussion since the beginning. During this visit, there was no less discussion about the courtesy handshake and meeting with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shahbaz Sharif. However, the Indian authorities have not yet commented on the new message of friendship from Pakistan.
The meeting between Jaishankar and Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar took place on the sidelines of a dinner reception hosted by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at his residence on October 17 for SCO delegates.
However, according to sources, there has been no discussion on the restoration of cricket relations between India and Pakistan.
