‘Ice melting’: Pakistan, India FMs hold 'extraordinary' meeting amid SCO summit

In a major development, the foreign ministers of Pakistan and India, Ishaq Dar and Jayshankar, respectively, held an extraordinary meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit held in Islamabad.

The meeting marked a rare instance of diplomatic engagement between the two nations.

The two foreign ministers sat together during lunch and engaged in conversations, according to private media channel Geo news.

This unusual arrangement was made at India's request, with Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs altering the seating arrangements to accommodate the meeting.

The details of the discussion are yet to be disclosed but it is reported that the meeting was held in a pleasant mode

Prior to this, the Indian external affairs minister Jay Shankar expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Deputy Prime Minister Isiah Dar, and the government of Pakistan for their hospitality after attending the SCO summit.

The Indian foreign minister has flown back to India after attending the SCO conference.

Earlier in the day, Information minister Ata Tarar said that the first visit to Pakistan by a top Indian diplomat in nearly 10 years was an "ice breaker."

"Neither us nor them requested for a bilateral meeting... but I believe his arrival here is an ice breaker," the information minister Attaullah Tarar said on the sidelines of the summit in the capital Islamabad.