Dr. Jaishankar to Visit Pakistan

External Affairs Minister(EAM) Dr.S. Jaishankar will be visiting Pakistan to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) ‘Heads of Government’ (HoG) meeting on October 15-16.Pakistan had invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to this meeting in August this year. But EAM will be representing India in this meeting now.SCO has its origins in Shanghai Five formed in 1996.It consists of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.After the dismemberment of the USSR that resulted in the end of the Cold War there were global concerns for the ethnic tensions.It was in that backdrop that the SCO gained momentum to address the emerging security concerns.Finally the SCO was established on 15th June 2001 in Shanghai having an international outlook.It has nine members.These are India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.Belarus is also part of this organisation. Afghanistan and Mongolia are observer states.This organisation deals with the emerging security concerns primarily that of the Asian members.With China and Russia trying to create an alternative global order to counter the Western Bloc. In Spite of the camaraderie between China and Russia there is an inherent competition as to who will wield more power.It is no secret that the Central Asian states are considered as the sphere of influence of the Russia.On the other hand China has been asserting to exercise its influence through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to maintain its strategic stranglehold in the Himalayan and Trans-Himalayan regions. It is in this backdrop that one must see the inclusion of both India and Pakistan in the SCO in 2017. Russia supported the entry of India into the organisation as India and Russia have been time tested strategic partners despite the ever changing world order. China as usual made it possible for Pakistan to gain a foothold in the SCO. The calculus was simple to stop the strategic balance tilting in favour of China. For India the presence at the SCO matters. As after the dismemberment of the USSR there has been a relationship deficit between India and the Central Asian Nations after their formation in 1991.It gives India ample space to develop communication strategic partnership to safeguard its Northern Frontiers. Dr. Jaishankar’s visit comes at a time when at the United Nations, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharief has raised the issue of Jammu and Kashmir once again. India too has underlined Pakistan’s notorious role in patronising the cross border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir to balkanise the Indian nation. None other than Dr. Jaishankar took the Pakistan head on at the United Nations General Assembly for sponsoring the cross border terrorism to destabilise India in the frontline Himalayan Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. On 28th September, Dr. Jaishankar called a spade a spade and brought Pakistan’s belligerent state policy towards India before the international community by saying “Many countries get left behind due to circumstances beyond their control, but some make conscious choices with disastrous consequences. A premier example is our neighbour, Pakistan. “He did not stop here but went further by saying “When this polity instils such fanaticism among its people, its GDP can only be measured in terms of radicalisation and its exports in the form of terrorism. Today we see the ills it sought to visit on others consume its own society. It can’t blame the world. This is only karma.” He took the Pakistani Prime Minister head-on and said, “We heard some bizarre assertions from it at this very forum yesterday. So let me make India’s position perfectly clear. Pakistan’s cross border terrorism policy will never succeed, and it can have no expectation of impunity. On the contrary, actions will certainly have consequences. “What Dr. Jaishankar said, it is the official policy of India towards Pakistan and he is known to be a no nonsense diplomat. What will emerge at the SCO meet in Pakistan can’t be judged now. But one thing is clear that India will not cooperate till Pakistan stops violating the territorial integrity and sovereignty of India. From Dr. Jaishankar’s tone and tenor, it is a foregone conclusion that he will not yield when it comes to uphold the Indian national interest.