• Indian FM Jaishankar’s arrival in Pakistan was good sign: Nawaz.
• Says both countries should look forward, leave behind bitter past.
• “Islamabad, New Delhi needed to work on climate change, trade”.

Ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday that the SCO summit, which was also attended by an Indian foreign minister in a rare visit, could be a beginning of normalisation of ties between India and Pakistan.

He made the statement in a meeting with a delegation of Indian journalists who came to Pakistan for the coverage of recently concluded Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) moot attended by foreign leaders from 10 countries.

The meeting was also attended by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and senior minister Marriyum Aurangzeb.

Stressing the need to revive cricket diplomacy between the South Asian nations, Nawaz said that the Indian cricket team should visit Pakistan for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

“If you ask the Indian cricket team, they would also suggest playing in Pakistan. Despite they are ready to play, however, those who have power to allow them don’t grant them permission,” he told the journalists.

He said it would have been better had Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the SCO conference in Pakistan, however, the arrival of the neighbouring country’s foreign minister was also a good sign.

Jaishankar, who attended the SCO moot held in Islamabad, was the first foreign minister of the neighbouring country to visit Pakistan in nearly a decade.

While departing from Islamabad after the regional event, Jaishankar thanked PM Shehbaz Sharif, Deputy Prime Minister and his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar and the government for the “hospitality and courtesies”.

In his interaction with the journalists, the three-time former prime minister said although the two countries had a bitter past, there is need to look forward and talk about the future. 

Shedding light on mutual issues which could be points of collaboration, the PML-N president said that Islamabad and New Delhi needed to immediately work on climate change and bilateral trade.

Pointing towards suspended trade ties between the neighbours for years, Nawaz told the foreign journalists that the cost of different Indian commodities and vegetables has increased in Pakistan as the products arrived in Pakistan via Dubai.

“Improved Pakistan-India relations would allow transportation of essential commodities to Pakistan within two hours,” he added.

Prior to this meeting, Nawaz was also interviewed by renowned Indian journalist Barkha Dutt earlier this week before the commencement of the highly-anticipated SCO conference.

In the interview, the former prime minister had expressed optimism about meeting Indian premier Modi in the near future as he advocated improved relations with the neighbouring country.

“I have always been a supporter of good relations with India,” Nawaz said, expressing hope that there was an opportunity to revive the relationship.

“It would have been a great thing if PM [Narendra] Modi had also attended the SCO summit. I do hope that he and us will have an opportunity to sit together in the not-so-distant future,” the former premier said.

Relations between the two countries have gone through periods of thaw from time to time but have been largely frozen since Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties in 2019 following abrogation of Article 370 — revoking special status of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

Islamabad has linked its decision to normalising ties with New Delhi with the restoration of the special status of the IIOJK.

Despite the frosty ties, the two countries agreed to renew the 2003 ceasefire agreement along the Line of Control (LoC) in February 2021.