New Delhi: Ahead of their intensive deliberations on Friday, the foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states had a relaxing dinner by the pristine beach of Goa’s top five-star resort on Thursday evening. It also became the backdrop for the first courteous handshake and exchange of pleasantries between the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers.The Indian hosts had put a blanket media ban on the dinner, with no photos or information released about the event. It is understood that the dinner also had cultural performances against the backdrop of the Arabian Sea.As the host, Indian external affairs minister S. Jaishankar was naturally expected to exchange pleasantries with all his guests. Therefore, there was speculation about whether the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers would engage in small talk at the dinner, as a separate bilateral meeting was not anticipated.The spotlight was not surprising, as this was the first visit by a Pakistani foreign minister to India since 2011. The visit takes place despite continuing tensions between the two sides and diplomatic ties yet to return even to the modest level seen before 2019.Even after the visiting Pakistani media contingent ‘broke’ the news that Jaishankar shook hands with Pakistani foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, there was neither confirmation nor denial from the Indian side.The dinner hosted by Jaishankar was attended by the foreign ministers of China, Russia, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as the SCO secretary general. However, foreign ministers of Kazakhstan and Tajikistan missed the event as they arrived in Goa only after the dinner ended.A Pakistani official told the journalists that Bhutto Zardari was the last of the foreign ministers to reach the dinner venue, as he was late due to a bilateral meeting with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.Once Bhutto Zardari arrived, Jaishankar, as the host, got up, shook his hand and engaged in some small talk. There were no cameras in the room at that time. The last time that they had exchanged any views was verbal barbs at the United Nations or social media.Ahead of the summit, Indian officials had pointed out that it would be natural for Jaishankar to exchange greetings with the visiting Pakistani minister, but that it would not amount to much.Seemingly agreeing with this assessment, Pakistani foreign ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch confirmed as well as played down the gesture.“You are giving it too much importance. This is a normal courtesy. This is a welcome from a host for a guest. There is no new development in it. They encountered each other and he (Jaishankar) welcomed him (Bhutto Zardari), just as he did with other foreign ministers,” she told Geo News.Ahead of the trip, Pakistan had already framed the trip to India as an exclusively SCO event, asserting that it should not be viewed through a bilateral lens. Jaishankar had also said last month that it was “very difficult” to engage with Pakistan due to its sponsorship of cross-border terrorism.The entrenched positions made it highly unlikely that there would be a last-minute formal bilateral meeting, especially with both governments across the border likely to see elections within the year.While Thursday’s India-Pakistani handshake took place without being photographed, there was expected to be a more public face-to-face encounter when Jaishankar personally welcomed his SCO counterparts outside the venue before the start of the meeting on Friday.But when Jaishankar stood outside the meeting room to greet all the foreign ministers separately as they arrived, there was no handshake for anyone.Instead, just like with the others, Jaishankar greeted Bilawal with a namaste. Then he invited the Pakistani foreign minister, who was wearing a shalwar suit, to stand next to him for a photo-op. There were objectively no wide smiles. After the flashes stopped, Bilawal seemed to say thank you with his hand on his heart, before he walked away to the door.Officially – and for the cameras – there were actually no handshakes.Since the agenda of the meeting is to finalise outcomes for the SCO leaders’ summit in July, no joint statement will be released at the conclusion of the meeting of the foreign ministers on Friday.