India invites Asif for SCO meeting

India holds the presidency of the SCO, which comprises Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran and Central Asian States

ISLAMABAD:

India has invited Defence Minister Khawaja Asif to attend the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to be held in New Delhi in April.

Diplomatic sources told The Express Tribune that the Indian government shared the formal invitation with the Foreign Office on Tuesday.

India currently holds the presidency of the SCO, which comprises Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran and Central Asian States.

As President of the SCO, New Delhi is set to host a series of events.

India earlier invited Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial as well as shared invitation for the meeting of foreign ministers of SCO.

The chief justice, however, skipped the meeting of the SCO chief justices and instead Justice Muneeb Akhtar attended the meeting through a video link recently.

The foreign ministers' meeting is scheduled for May in Goa while the defense ministers’ huddle will be held in New Delhi in April.

The government has not yet taken a decision whether Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari or Defence Minister Khawaja Asif will attend the meetings in India or not.

The Foreign Office has emphasised that the decision will be taken at an appropriate time.

India is also set to host the SCO summit later this year and most likely, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will be invited. It is not clear whether Pakistan will be part of those high-profile meetings or not.

It is pertinent to note that because the SCO is an important forum because of the presence of China and Russia, Pakistan is unlikely to stay out of the events.

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Both Pakistan and India were accepted as full members of the influential organization a few years back after they committed not to undermine the SCO work because of their bilateral disputes.

Relations between Pakistan and India have remained tense for many years now. There were some hopes of a thaw in February 2021 when the two countries unexpectedly agreed to renew the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC).

Both countries were set to partially restore trade suspended after India revoked the special status of the disputed territory in August 2019.

However, the government of Imran Khan backtracked from its decision fearing public backlash.

New details recently surfaced claiming that in early 2021, Pakistan and India were discussing the possibility of a summit meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his then Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan.