Pakistan has formally invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Islamabad, scheduled for October this year. Pakistan, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has extended invitations to all heads of government of the SCO member states, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for the Council of Heads of Government meeting.
The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, confirmed that Islamabad has already received some confirmations for the upcoming SCO meeting. This indicates a positive response from other member states towards Pakistan’s hosting of the event.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had previously mentioned that Pakistan would invite PM Modi to the regional summit. In response to earlier media reports, the Ministry of External Affairs clarified that PM Modi has not ruled out attending the SCO summit in Pakistan.
Will PM Modi travel to Pakistan?
The Indian Prime Minister is unlikely to travel to Pakistan amidst strained relations over recent terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan’s invitation is viewed as merely a ‘protocol’ in India. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) does not mandate heads of state to personally attend the annual summits. Consequently, the Indian leader is anticipated to send a ministerial delegation to represent New Delhi.
It should be noted that PM Modi had skipped the SCO’s 24th annual summit of heads of state held in Kazakhstan on July 3-4 this year. Instead, India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar had represented New Delhi there.
“I do not see PM Modi landing in Islamabad,” political analyst Kamran Yousaf was quoted as saying by news agency IANS.
“Extending invitations to PM Modi and all other member states is a compulsive protocol any host country follows. Pakistan has done the same. I do not see this as a political stunt,” he added.
Last year, when the SCO summit took place in India, Pakistan chose to send its then-foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to India.
About the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is a permanent intergovernmental international organization established on June 15, 2001 in Shanghai (PRC) by the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People’s Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan. Its predecessor was the mechanism of the Shanghai Five. It comprises nine member states- the Republic of India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People’s Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Uzbekistan.
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