India and Pak have 'real opportunity' to break ice at SCO Summit: Hurriyat chairman

Srinagar: Ahead of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s visit to Pakistan later this month to attend a conclave of the SCO, Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Saturday said the two sides have a "real opportunity" to break the ice and engage constructively.

India on Friday announced that Jaishankar will travel to Pakistan to attend a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in mid-October.

"Despite increased challenges, the resolve for peaceful resolution of the conflict remains stronger than ever. Generations of Kashmiris have been consumed by the uncertainty.

"We want an end to it, a fair closure. India and Pakistan have a real opportunity at the upcoming SCO Summit to break the ice and engage constructively. Hope they heed to it," he said in a post on X.

After more than 5 years, mostly spent under house detention, when J&K, in the August of 2019, went through the rude shock and humiliation of losing its semi-autonomous status, was broken into two parts, downgraded to a union territory followed by a no-holds-barred clampdown and…

— Mirwaiz Umar Farooq (@MirwaizKashmir) October 5, 2024

It will be for the first time in nearly nine years that India's external affairs minister will travel to Pakistan even as the ties between the two neighbours remained frosty over the Kashmir issue and cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan.

Pakistan is hosting the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) meeting on October 15 and 16.