‘Break the ice’: Hurriyat's Mirwaiz calls for constructive Indo-Pak dialogue at SCO meet

Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Saturday said India and Pakistan have a real opportunity at the upcoming SCO Summit to “break the ice and engage constructively.”

External affairs minister S Jaishankar will lead the Indian delegation at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of Government meeting in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad on October 15-16.

“Generations of Kashmiris have been consumed by the uncertainty. We want an end to it, a fair closure. India and Pakistan have a real opportunity at the upcoming SCO Summit to break the ice and engage constructively. Hope they heed to it,” Mirwaiz wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

The chief priest of Jamia Masjid Srinagar expressed hope for peace and justice for the people of Jammu and Kashmir after “over five years of house detention” and the loss of the region's semi-autonomous status in August 2019.

Meanwhile, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah said, “It's a good thing. Usually PM attends these meetings and I am happy that S Jaishankar is going and Pakistan has invited him. I think he will hold talks beyond the SCO on how to bring peace between these two countries—through friendship and not hatred.”

Jaishankar's visit to Pakistan will be the first by an Indian foreign minister in nearly a decade, presenting a potential milestone for bilateral relations.

However, there are currently no plans for any formal engagements during this day-long trip.

The late former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj visited Islamabad in December 2015 for a “Heart of Asia” meeting, a security conference focused on Afghanistan, where she held talks with senior Pakistani leaders.

The last high-level ministerial visit to Pakistan took place in August 2016, when Rajnath Singh, in his previous role as Union home minister, attended a meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).