ISLAMABAD:
India has invited Defence Minister Khawaja Asif to wait the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to be held in New Delhi in April.
Diplomatic resources advised The Express Tribune that the Indian executive shared the formal invitation with the Foreign Office on Tuesday.
India recently holds the presidency of the SCO, which accommodates Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran and Central Asian States.
As President of the SCO, New Delhi is ready to host a sequence of occasions.
India previous invited Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial in addition to shared invitation for the meeting of international ministers of SCO.
The leader justice, alternatively, skipped the meeting of the SCO leader justices and as an alternative Justice Muneeb Akhtar attended the meeting thru a video hyperlink just lately.
The international ministers’ meeting is scheduled for May in Goa whilst the protection ministers’ huddle can be held in New Delhi in April.
The executive has now not but taken a call whether or not Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari or Defence Minister Khawaja Asif will attend the conferences in India or now not.
The Foreign Office has emphasized that the verdict can be taken at a suitable time.
India could also be set to host the SCO summit later this yr and possibly, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif can be invited. It isn’t transparent whether or not Pakistan can be a part of the ones high-profile conferences or now not.
It is pertinent to notice that for the reason that SCO is a very powerful discussion board as a result of the presence of China and Russia, Pakistan is not going to stick out of the occasions.
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Both Pakistan and India had been authorized as complete participants of the influential group a couple of years again when they dedicated to not undermine the SCO paintings as a result of their bilateral disputes.
Relations between Pakistan and India have remained irritating for a few years now. There had been some hopes of a thaw in February 2021 when the 2 international locations swiftly agreed to resume the ceasefire alongside the Line of Control (LoC).
Both international locations had been set to partly repair industry suspended after India revoked the particular standing of the disputed territory in August 2019.
However, the federal government of Imran Khan backtracked from its resolution fearing public backlash.
New main points just lately surfaced claiming that during early 2021, Pakistan and India had been discussing the opportunity of a summit meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his then Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan.
