Srinagar (Web Desk): National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Monday said Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visiting Pakistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting is a “good step” hoping that the ties between the two countries will improve.
“Jaishankar ji is going to Pakistan for an SCO meeting. It’s a very good step. I hope both countries think along the lines of friendship,” the former chief minster (CM) of Illegally Indian-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) said in a media interview in Srinagar.
Farroq Abdullah said that he would like to he would like to remind Jaishankar that former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had once said, “Friends can be changed, borders cannot be changed”.
“Either we live in a friendly environment and ensure peace and prosperity in both the countries or live in animosity and create a tragedy for both countries. I hope both the countries try to understand each other and work for the betterment of people,” he said.
Speaking about the Middle East crisis, Abdullah said it was “heartbreaking”.
“Innocent people are being killed, be it in Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, Iran or Israel, innocents are dying.
The world should wake up now. If this conflict spreads to other parts, the economic condition of the world will deteriorate. Our dream of a better nation, our dream of bringing peace will be crushed,” the former IIOJK CM added.
Asked about India allegedly supplying weapons to Israel, Farooq Abdullah said said, “If it’s true, it’s very sad.”
“It means they are promoting hate that exists there and I think that will destroy us. In the long run, we will pay a heavy price for such a thing,” he said.
On October 4, at a weekly news briefing, Spokesperson of India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Randhir Jaiswal stated that, "The minister of external affairs will lead a delegation to Pakistan to participate in the SCO Summit which will be held on October 15 and 16."
However, on October 5, S Jaishankar, while responding to a query at an event in New Delhi, said that he was going to Pakistan for a "multilateral event" and not to discuss Indo-Pak relations.
“I expect there would be a lot of media interest because of the very nature of the relationship,” Jaishankar said.
“But I do want to say it will be for a multilateral event. I am not going there to discuss India-Pakistan relations,” he added.
Pakistan is hosting the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) meeting on October 15 and 16.
This will be the first visit to Pakistan by any Indian foreign minister in almost a decade.