Pakistan Extends Invitation to World Leaders
As Pakistan prepares to host the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in October, reports suggest that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with other global leaders, has been invited to the event. The summit will take place in Islamabad on October 15-16, with Pakistan holding the rotating chairmanship of the Council of Heads of Government (CHG), the second most significant decision-making body within the SCO after the Council of Heads of State.
India’s Likely Absence and Representation Options
While it appears that Prime Minister Modi is unlikely to attend the summit in person, there is speculation about whether India will send a ministerial representative to participate. In the past, Modi has skipped the CHG meetings, including this year’s gathering in Kazakhstan due to a scheduling conflict with the July parliamentary session. Last year, External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar represented India at the CHG meeting in Bishkek. It remains uncertain if India will be permitted to participate virtually if no representative is sent to Pakistan.
India-Pakistan Relations within the SCO Framework
India and Pakistan, both full-time members of the SCO led by Russia and China, have managed to work together within this multilateral forum, despite ongoing bilateral tensions. India remains cautious about the SCO’s anti-West stance and has consistently refrained from endorsing China’s Belt and Road Initiative in the group’s joint statements. Pakistan’s former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari visited India last year for an SCO foreign ministers’ meeting, underscoring the SCO charter’s restriction on raising bilateral issues during such gatherings.
Challenges to Indian Participation
Several factors could lead to India skipping the upcoming event, including recent terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan’s ongoing criticism of India’s abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. The last Indian foreign minister to visit Pakistan was the late Sushma Swaraj, who attended a meeting in Islamabad in 2015. As tensions persist, India’s participation in the October summit remains uncertain.