Islamabad: In a significant development, India has invited Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting to be held in New Delhi next month. A formal invitation on the same was given by the Government of India to the Pakistan Foreign Office. While the SCO defense ministers will meet in April, the bloc’s foreign ministers will gather in Goa in May. India, as the Chair of the SCO, is set to host a series of events in which member states including Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran and Central Asian states will actively participate and discuss issues of regional concerns, security, development will discuss. and relationship.
Earlier, India extended a separate invitation to Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to attend the foreign ministers’ meeting and the SCO chief justices’ meeting.
However, Bandial opted out of the meeting and instead, Justice Munib Akhtar attended the meeting through a video link recently.
Also read: PTI supporters celebrate by becoming police, Rangers retreat from Imran Khan’s residence
A decision is also pending on Bilawal’s visit, which many are hoping will also help by participating in the meeting via video link.
Diplomatic sources confirmed that the Pakistan government has not yet taken a decision on the invitation by India, adding that a decision will be taken at an appropriate time.
A source in the know of the matter said, “We are also expecting an invitation from India to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for the SCO summit in the coming days. But it is still not clear whether Pakistan will attend those high-profile meetings.” Will it be a part or not? Development.
It is also important to note that the SCO summit is an important forum and it will not be an easy decision for the Pak Foreign Minister and Defense Minister to ignore the Indian invitations.
It is likely that both the ministers may respond positively to the invitations by attending the meetings via video link and would prefer to avoid traveling to India for the same.
Both India and Pakistan were accepted as full members of the SCO after they made a commitment not to weaken the bloc because of their bilateral disputes.
India-Pakistan relations have been tense since February 2021 following India’s Balakot airstrike and Pakistan’s aggressive response after downing an Indian Air Force (IAF) jet and capturing Wing Commander Abhinandan, who was later released and returned to India. Was handed over, which was dubbed by Pakistan. as a “goodwill gesture”.