Armed forces team attends SCO Delhi huddle

Development increases chances of defence minister travelling to India next month

ISLAMABAD:

A Pakistani delegation, comprising officers from the three armed forces, attended a working group meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in New Delhi, the Foreign Office on Friday confirmed, raising the possibility of the defence minister travelling to the neighbouring country next month.

India, being the current president of the SCO, is holding a series of meetings this year.

It has invited Pakistani defence and foreign ministers for the SCO meetings scheduled in April and May, respectively.

The FO spokesperson told reporters  that no final decision had been made  on the invitations yet.

However, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch  confirmed that a Pakistani delegation  from the Joint Staff Headquarters attended a meeting of the expert working group under the Council of Ministers of Defence of the SCO.

“Pakistan is an active member of the SCO and will continue to engage with it. Regarding that unfortunate development last week, we have expressed our concerns with the SCO and our point has been well registered with the entire organisation,” she said while referring to the India cancelling the Pakistani invitation for a meeting of military experts on ‘healthcare and pandemics’.

“Regarding future meetings, I cannot predict how things would develop, but I can share with you that yesterday [Thursday] a delegation of Pakistan from the Joint Staff Headquarters attended the 16th meeting of the expert working group under the Council of the Ministers of Defence of SCO member states. It was a working level delegation that attended in-person,” she added.

This was the first SCO meeting, where Pakistan attended the huddle in person.

It earlier attended the chief justices conference as well as the energy ministers meeting via video link.

Although the final decision on the participation of Pakistan in the SCO defence and foreign ministers meetings has not been taken yet, Islamabad is actively considering the invitation.

As the SCO is a regional forum having China and Russia as its members too, one view within the Foreign Office is that Pakistan must not leave such key forums, allowing India an opportunity to score points.

India is also scheduled to host a summit meeting in June.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is likely to be invited.

It is believed some friendly countries are making fresh efforts to open a channel of communications between Pakistan and India.

However, because of the uncertain political situation in Pakistan, matters are not proceeding forward.

If Pakistan attends the defence and foreign ministers meetings and later a summit of the SCO, it  will be seen as major ice-breaking development although it may not have an immediate impact on the bilateral relationship.