India invites foreign ministers of Pakistan, China for SCO meet

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, January 24

India has formally invited foreign ministers of Pakistan and China for the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Goa from May 4 to 5.

The invitation to the two countries with which diplomatic ties have dipped is part of the invitations to all SCO members for the foreign ministers meeting.

India took over the chairmanship of the nine-member SCO in September last year and will hold several ministerial meetings including that of defence ministers when this invitation will be repeated for ministers from Pakistan and China, posing a bigger dilemma for South Block as well as for Beijing and Islamabad even though no bilateral issues are taken up at SCO meetings.

For the Goa SCO summit, the arrival of the new Foreign Minister of China Qin Gangwill be eagerly anticipated because this could be the first time he will interact with his Indian interlocutors.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will have to overcome the domestic imperatives to arrive in India. Sources said that so far, there is no confirmation from Islamabad about Bilawal’s acceptance of the invite.

Though the SCO has tried to establish a new normal by ignoring bilateral irritants, the Indo-Pak differences appear to have re-emerged and there is no confirmation about Pakistani participation for the SCO Film Festival to be held in Mumbai later this month. “There is only one SCO member country from which entries have not been received,” said senior I&B Ministry official Neerja Shekar.

However, there were no issues during the first meeting of the Council of National Coordinators of SCO members which was held here from October 17 to 20 last year. It helped that the meet was arranged in hybrid form which meant that the Pakistani delegate skipped travelling to India. At a time in 2020 when there was no ceasefire on the LoC and Indo-Pak ties were testy, an SCO meeting did see sparks fly. At a virtual meeting of SCO National Security Advisers, the Pakistani representative pointedly hung a map that incorrectly depicted its boundaries from India’s point of view, leading to a symbolic walkout by NSA Ajit Doval.

No confirmation from Islamabad

• Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will have to overcome the domestic imperatives to arrive in India
• Sources say so far, there is no confirmation from Islamabad about Bilawal’s acceptance of the invite