India will be inviting PakistaniPrime Minister Imran Khan for the annual meeting of heads of government of theShanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) later this year. Ministry of ExternalAffairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar confirmed to reporters that the invitationwill be sent out to all members.
"India will be hosting the SCOheads of government later this year. It is held annually at the primeministers' level and discusses the SCO's program on multilateral and tradecooperation. As per established practice and procedure in SCO, all eightmembers of SCO, as well as four observer states, and other internationaldialogue partners, will be invited to attend the meeting," he said on Thursdayat the weekly briefing.
SCO has eight members – India,Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan –and four observer states, Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia. If Khan doesaccept the invitation, it will be the first time that a Pakistani will visitIndia since Nawaz Sharif came to New Delhi for Prime Minister Narendra Modi'sswearing-in ceremony in May 2014.
India has suspended all bilateralmeetings with Pakistan for several years now, accusing Islamabad of sponsoringterror attacks in Kashmir.
Last year, India conducted airraids inside Pakistani territory against facilities of the Jaish-e-Mohammad atBalakot as retaliation for the Pulwama suicide bomb attack by a Kashmirimilitant which killed more than 40 soldiers of the Indian security forces. Inresponse, the Pakistan Air Force also dropped some bombs inside Indianterritory in Jammu and Kashmir.
After the Indian government revokedthe autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir in August last year, there has beenan uptick in rhetoric from Pakistan. Based on a letter sent by Pakistan andbacked by China, the United Nations Security Council has also discussed Kashmirtwice in closed-door meetings, but with no outcome.
India and Pakistan were formally inducted as members of SCO in June 2017. In the first heads of government meeting that the countries attended as members in December 2017, they were represented by Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj. Next year, both the Indian and Pakistani prime ministers skipped the heads of government meeting at Dushanbe in October 2018 and were instead represented by their foreign ministers.
Last year, Indian defense minister Rajnath Singh attended the SCO council for heads of government in Tashkent in November 2019.
