Pakistan SCO Summit: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) conference is going to start in Pakistan from today. Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar will reach Islamabad on Tuesday to attend the SCO Summit. Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif will organize a dinner and with this the SCO Summit will begin. This will be the first high-level visit to Pakistan from India amid the ongoing tension in relations between the two neighboring countries for the last several years. 

Indian Foreign Minister visits Pakistan after 9 years

It should also be mentioned here that both sides have denied any bilateral talks between Jaishankar and his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar on the sidelines of the SCO Heads of Government Summit. Jaishankar's visit to Pakistan is considered very important. In his recent address, Jaishankar had said, "Like any neighbouring country, India would definitely want better relations with Pakistan. But this cannot happen by ignoring cross-border terrorism." This is the first time in nearly nine years that India's Foreign Minister will visit Pakistan. It is reported that Jaishankar will stay in Pakistan for less than 24 hours. 

Pakistan had invited PM Modi

The last Indian foreign minister to visit Pakistan was Sushma Swaraj. She visited Islamabad in December 2015 to attend a conference on Afghanistan. Pakistan invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the SCO summit in August. 

Strong security arrangements

Tight security arrangements have been made for the SCO summit. Islamabad Inspector General of Police (IGP) Nasir Ali Rizvi said in a statement that a security plan has been prepared for the summit to be held in the capital. He said that security personnel will be deployed at hotels and places where foreign delegations are staying. He said that they will ensure the safety of foreign leaders, delegations and guests. Rizvi said that search and information-based operations are being carried out and personnel of the Pakistan Army, intelligence agencies, Frontier Corps (FC) and Rangers have been deployed. 

The army was deployed

The police chief said over 9,000 police personnel have been deployed for security and "a traffic plan has also been issued for the convenience of citizens". The government has already deployed the army in the capital to deal with any untoward situation and all types of protests and rallies have been banned in Islamabad, neighbouring Rawalpindi and some other cities.