'As host, we cannot propose bilateral meeting': Pakistan minister Ahsan Iqbal

Islamabad: Hours after External Affairs S Jaishankar landed in Pakistan to attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Islamabad on Tuesday said it was for India to decide if it wants to have a bilateral meeting with the Pakistani side on the sidelines of the conclave.

Pakistan's Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said that as the host of the SCO meeting, Islamabad would go by what the guests would like to have.

"We cannot propose. We have to go by the guests. If the guests want a bilateral meeting, we will certainly be too happy," he said.

Iqbal was responding to a question on whether Pakistan would like to propose a bilateral meeting between the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan.

"As hosts, we cannot really, impress upon anyone whether they want a bilateral meeting," he said.

Both sides have already ruled out any bilateral talks between Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar on the sidelines of the SCO heads of the government summit.

Asked whether Pakistan would like to restore trade ties with India, Iqbal did not give a direct reply but said both sides should go by the spirits of the Lahore declaration.

The Lahore Declaration was signed on February 21, 1999 following talks between then Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.

It was considered as a key milestone in India-Pakistan relations.

"If we go to the spirit of Lahore declaration, I think there would be no problem that we cannot solve together," Iqbal said.

Jaishankar's visit to Pakistan is being seen in Islamabad as a positive move by India.

It is the first time in nearly nine years that India's foreign minister travelled to Pakistan even as the ties between the two neighbours remained tense over the Kashmir issue and cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan.

The external affairs minister will lead the Indian delegation at the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) summit on Wednesday.

The last Indian Foreign Minister to visit Pakistan was Sushma Swaraj. She had travelled to Islamabad to attend the 'Heart of Asia' conference on Afghanistan that was held on December 8 to 9 in 2015.

The ties between India and Pakistan came under severe strain after India's warplanes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Balakot in Pakistan in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack.

The relations further deteriorated after India on August 5, 2019 announced the withdrawal of special powers of Jammu and Kashmir and the bifurcation of the state into two union territories.

Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties with India after New Delhi abrogated Article 370.

India has been maintaining that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan while insisting that the onus is on Islamabad to create an environment free of terror and hostility for such engagement.