Farooq Abdullah, chief of the National Conference, urged the central government to improve relations with Pakistan and revive Saarc. Abdullah’s statement comes at a time when Jaishankar is set to visit Pakistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting scheduled to take place on October 15 and 16. Jaishankar’s visit to Islamabad will be the first by any foreign minister to Pakistan since his predecessor Sushma Swaraj travelled to the country for a multilateral event.