Qamar Cheema said that if Pakistan had raised the issue of Kashmir, then Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar would have given a befitting reply to it. He said that if such a situation had arisen, the Indian media could have globalized the issue from there.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was on a two-day visit to Pakistan to attend a conference of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). This was the first visit of an Indian leader to Pakistan in the last nine years. On reaching Islamabad, Pakistan welcomed him with a red carpet. Not only this, Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif came forward and shook hands with him and talked to him. When Jaishankar was returning to India after the SCO meeting on Wednesday, he made a tweet, which is being highly praised in the Pakistani media.
Jaishankar's tweet is being seen in the Pakistani media as a step opening the way for the future. At the same time, the intellectuals and scholars there are discussing whether the ice on the relations between the two countries will melt after Jaishankar's visit to Islamabad. Famous Pakistani scholar Dr. Qamar Cheema has called it a good sign for Pakistan and said that for the first time in the last ten years, an Indian leader has tweeted a pleasant tweet about Pakistan.
Actually, Jaishankar had made a tweet on Wednesday before leaving for New Delhi from Islamabad. In this he thanked Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif for the hospitality. Jaishankar had also mentioned Pak Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar in his tweet. Pakistani media is praising this tweet and his statements of Jaishankar. While mentioning this in a podcast, Qamar Cheema said that this step of Jaishankar is tremendous.
Cheema said, “What do you think, this is a joke. You look back at Jaishankar's tweets of the last 10 years or check the Twitter handle of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, or check the Twitter handle of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Let us tell you if there is even a single tweet from any of them in these days, which indicates that the two countries are getting closer. In this podcast, Qamar Cheema is seen reprimanding those people who are raising the issue as to why Kashmir was not mentioned during the SCO summit, while Afghanistan was mentioned.
Qamar Cheema further said that Afghanistan was mentioned because it did not interest both India and Pakistan, whereas the dispute between the two countries on Kashmir is old and it is a bilateral issue. He asked whether there is a need to explain why the Indian media delegation had come to Islamabad. He said that if such a situation had arisen, the Indian media could have globalized the issue from there itself. Cheema said that if Pakistan had raised the issue of Kashmir, Jaishankar would have given a befitting reply to it.
Let us tell you that during this period, informal talks were held between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar on two occasions and in one of them ways to improve India-Pakistan cricket relations were discussed. Diplomatic sources gave this information on Wednesday. Pakistan's Information Minister Ataullah Tarar said that Jaishankar's visit to Islamabad has melted the ice on relations.
Sources also said that a separate meeting between Jaishankar and Dar took place at a dinner hosted by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at his residence for SCO delegates. Pakistan Home Minister Mohsin Naqvi also attended this meeting and in a brief conversation, improvement in cricket relations was discussed. Naqvi is also the chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). It is learned that the Pakistani side has requested India's participation in the ICC Champions Trophy cricket tournament to be hosted by Pakistan in February next year. Although India has denied this.
