'Not Going There to Discuss India-Pakistan Issue': Jaishankar Ahead of SCO's Islamabad Visit

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday said that he will travel to Pakistan to attend a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in mid-October and no talks on ‘India- Pakistan ’ issue will be held. 

It will be for the first time in nearly nine years that India's external affairs minister will travel to Pakistan even as the ties between the two neighbours remained frosty over the Kashmir issue and cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan. 

EAM Dr S Jaishankar said, “It (visit) will be for a multilateral event. I'm not going there to discuss India- Pakistan relations. I'm going there to be a good member of the SCO. But, you know, since I'm a courteous and civil person, I will behave myself accordingly.”

"If one our neighbours is serving terrorism then there cannot be normal talks with such countries. But India has done more regional trade than any country, this is because we have emphasized 'neighborhood first",  S Jaishankar added. 

The last Indian external affairs minister to visit Pakistan was Sushma Swaraj. She had travelled to Islamabad in December 2015 to attend a conference on Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties with India after Article 370 was abrogated by New Delhi and the State of Jammu and Kashmir lost its significance.