Pakistan invites PM Modi to Islamabad SCO meet, raises Kashmir issue again

Pakistan is set to host the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation heads of government meeting on October 15 and 16

Pakistan has extended an invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Islamabad, the country's Foreign Office spokesperson, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, announced on Thursday.

Pakistan is set to host the SCO heads of government meeting on October 15 and 16, with the event being preceded by a ministerial meeting, along with multiple rounds of senior officials' meetings focusing on financial, economic, socio-cultural, and humanitarian cooperation among SCO member states, Pakistani publication Dawn said, while reporting Baloch's announcement.

During a weekly press briefing, the Foreign Office spokesperson confirmed that invitations have been sent to the heads of state of all member countries to participate in the meeting.

 

"An invitation has also been sent to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi," Baloch reportedly said, adding that several countries have already confirmed their participation in the event. "It will be informed in due course which country has confirmed," she added.

The SCO is an intergovernmental organisation established in 2001 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. In 2017, it was expanded to include India and Pakistan, and Iran was added as a member in 2023, bringing the total number of member states to nine. The SCO's objective is to foster cooperation and peace among its member states, while promoting "a new democratic, fair and rational international political and economic order".

Pakistan's invitation comes at a time when terrorists, reported to be affiliated with Pakistan-backed terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), have conducted multiple attacks in the Jammu region.

When asked on Thursday about the current state of relations with India, the Pakistani Foreign Office spokesperson said, “Pakistan does not have direct bilateral trade with India.”

The spokesperson also said that Pakistan's foreign secretary, who is attending the 50th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers in Yaoundé, Cameroon, from August 29 to 30, will present Islamabad's "perspective on Gaza and Jammu and Kashmir" there.

In May 2023, Pakistan's then foreign minister, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, had visited India to participate in the two-day meeting of the SCO's Council of Foreign Ministers. He was the first Pakistani foreign minister to visit India in nearly 12 years.

At that time, in a sharp rebuttal to remarks made by Bilawal, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar referred to his Pakistani counterpart as a "promoter, justifier... and spokesperson of a terrorism industry, which is the mainstay of Pakistan".

Jaishankar had strongly criticised Pakistan on various fronts and questioned Bilawal's credibility in addressing terrorism-related issues.

Jaishankar's remarks came after the Pakistani foreign minister, during his address at the SCO's Council of Foreign Ministers Meeting in Goa, advocated for the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as central to regional connectivity. Bilawal had also warned against "getting caught up in weaponising terrorism" or using it to gain diplomatic leverage.

"Pakistan's credibility is depleting even faster than its forex reserves," Jaishankar had stated during a press briefing following the SCO meeting.

Jaishankar added that Pakistan's stance on terrorism and regional connectivity had been "called out" during the SCO meet, which included foreign ministers from China, Russia, Pakistan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

The SCO also has three observer states -- Mongolia, Belarus, and Afghanistan (currently inactive) -- and fourteen dialogue partners, including Sri Lanka, Turkey, Cambodia, Azerbaijan, Nepal, Armenia, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Myanmar, the Maldives, and the United Arab Emirates.