Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar became the first top Delhi diplomat to visit Pakistan in nearly a decade. His arrival in Islamabad for a heads-of-government gathering of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation on Tuesday was much talked about, but DG South Asia Ilyas Nizami received him at the airport not any cabinet member.

A similar situation occurred when former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari travelled to Goa, India for the SCO summit. An Indian External Affairs Ministry diplomat had received him at the airport.

The visit could be “quid pro quo”, said Indian journalist Suhasini Haidar when Pakistani journalist Munizae Jahangir used the term while referring to the development.

Jaishankar’s plane landed just before 3:20pm at the Nur Khan Airbase, as state TV showed him receiving a bouquet of flowers from a host delegation that did not include any senior ministers.

With 13 members, India has the smallest delegation at the summit. Eight members came with the Indian foreign ministers while five are already in the country.

Unlike the Indian FM arrival, cabinet members went to the airport to receive the guests at the airport. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif was the last cabinet member to receive the Russian prime minister who landed in the country Tuesday evening.

The decision to send DG South Asia to the airport was fine, according to the protocol. But it could be described as “low-profile” given the status of the dignitary from India.

Ministers usually do not go to the airport, but they do where the country has “good relations” with the visiting dignitary’s train.

But an additional secretary or secretary could also have gone to the airport.

Moreover, the diplomatic norms say that a minister described as a “minister for hospitality” is attached to the head of state or head of government. In the case of a foreign minister’s welcome, a foreign secretary or additional secretary or DG. So DG South Asia Nizami receiving Indian FM Jaishankar is nothing wrong. But it is expected the senior official is sent to receive the guest at such a high-level event.

Given the tense ties between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, such kind of developments could be expected.