Pakistan is ready to host the 23rd edition of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit on Tuesday and Wednesday, with senior leaders from its all-weather friend China and its arch-rival India attending amid strict security measures. Foreign delegations have started to reach Pakistan to attend the mega event under the shadow of increased terror attacks and protests by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan's party.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is set to attend the SCO Summit, where he will lead the Indian delegation and likely raise India's concerns related to cross-border terrorism. The minister has already clarified that there will be no discussions on India-Pakistan relations, and his visit is expected to be a short one. Jaishankar's visit to Pakistan is the first by an Indian EAM in nine years after his predecessor Sushma Swaraj in 2015.
Relations between India and Pakistan remain strained, to put it lightly, as tensions over Kashmir, Article 370 and terrorism have dominated the ties between the two neighbouring countries. The upcoming SCO meeting is under the microscope over persistent security threats involving a recent attack on a convoy carrying foreign ambassadors and a bombing outside Pakistan's largest airport.
India-Pakistan relations at the present
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.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars and built up their armies while developing nuclear weapons. 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.
In this regard, Jaishankar's visit to Pakistan is being viewed as a positive development across the border, although both sides have ruled out bilateral talks. Pakistan's ex-foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari visited India in May 2023 to attend an in-person meeting of the foreign ministers of SCO nations in Goa. It was the first visit of a Pakistani foreign minister to India in almost 12 years.
India-Pakistan trade relations
Trade between India and Pakistan remained suspended since the Pulwama attack in 2019, after which New Delhi revoked its Most Favoured Status (MFN) for the neighbour and imposed a 200 per cent import duty on Pakistani products. India has also accused Pakistan of narcotics and weapons smuggling, terror financing and money laundering in Jammu and Kashmir.
However, trade in practice has continued between the two arch-rivals. India's imports from Pakistan amounted to a mere $3 million in 2023-24, while India's exports to Islamabad reached $1.2 billion in the same period due to Pakistani authorities approving Indian imports on an as-needed basis. In the years since, Pakistan's economy has deteriorated sharply with record-high inflation rates and depleting foreign currency reserves, causing it to rely on heavy debt from allied countries.
Recently, Pakistan's Defence Minister Ishaq Dar highlighted eagerness to resume bilateral trade with India, which has been "non-existent" since 2019. However, India does not see many incentives in resuming trade with its arch-rival and thus Islamabad is in dire need of offering more as its economy continues to crumble.
India-Pakistan relations in tourism
While India does not grant tourist visas for Pakistani travellers, nor Pakistan for Indians, visitors can avail visas for health and business reasons. Arrivals from Bangladesh and Pakistan have been predominantly through land - at the sole remaining open border post at Wagah, a process that often takes several hours due to stringent security checks by both sides.
When India and Pakistan had directed their efforts in normalising relations from 2004 to 2008, they implemented several measures to boost tourism - such as increasing the frequency of the bus service for both routes and signing agreements for the movement of trucks, driver permits and more. Prior to that, both nations launched a train service connecting Attari to Lahore, while working to establish multiple bus and train services connecting other areas including those in the disputed region of Kashmir.
The 2019 Pulwama attack caused a severe strain on ties as all public transport links between the two countries were severed. After Article 370 was revoked by the Modi government, Pakistan cut two rail links, suspended bilateral trade and expelled India's ambassador, all part of what it called a diplomatic effort to protest against the decision.
India-Pakistan in cricket
As a result of Pakistan's battered security situation and political instability, it has been unable to host international events. The last time Pakistan hosted a summit was in March 2022, a month before Imran Khan was ousted from office. Even Pakistan's best-loved sport cricket has suffered after terrorists attacked a Sri Lanka team bus in 2009, killing eight people and injuring players and officials.
In the years after the painful incident of the partition, cricket has remained the one thing that Indians and Pakistanis share a passion for. As such, both countries heavily engaged in on-again off-again "cricket diplomacy". The Indian cricket team toured Pakistan twice in the 2000s, and Pakistan's late former President Pervez Musharraf also visited New Delhi in 2005. India's final tour in Pakistan was held in 2005-06.
After the 2008 Mumbai attacks, when Pakistani terrorists killed 160 people in Mumbai, the Indian government banned its cricket team from touring Pakistan for any tournament and excluded Pakistan from the massively popular Indian Cricket League (IPL). India has refused to play cricket with Pakistan ever since, saying it won't do so unless the neighbour stops cross-border terrorism.
After a gap of seven years, the Pakistan cricket team led by Babar Azam arrived in India to play the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023. All eyes would be on the Champions Trophy 2025, the first ICC tournament hosted by Pakistan in 28 years. Pakistan is keen to show that its security situation has improved after the 2009 incidents led to a halt on all tournaments there, but India is still unwilling to go to Pakistan to play cricket.
