It was on Thursday when Pakistan made an official announcement, inviting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit due to be held in Islamabad mid-October.
The Foreign Office spokesperson, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, said at the weekly press briefing that invitations had been sent to the leaders of all member countries, adding: "This includes an invitation to Prime Minister Modi as well." Some countries have also confirmed their participation, she added, without disclosing further details on which countries have confirmed, saying that this would be shared in due course.
The meeting of the SCO heads of government is to take place on October 15-16. It shall be preceded by a ministerial gathering and several meetings among the senior officials on financial, economic, socio-cultural and humanitarian collaboration among the SCO members.
It is only a formality, observers say, since the relations between India and Pakistan turned sore since August 5, 2019, after India changed the status of Jammu and Kashmir by abrogating Article 370 of its Constitution. He is expected to deputize a ministerial delegation since previous SCO meetings have representations by India at the ministerial level and not at the head of state level.
Notably, Prime Minister Modi did not attend the SCO's 24th annual summit of heads of state in Kazakhstan on July 3-4. Instead, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar led India's representation.
Analysts in Pakistan believe that Prime Minister Modi is unlikely to participate in this meeting scheduled to take place in Islamabad. "Yes, it's a good thing that the host country has invited PM Modi and the rest of the member states, but in no way is it an invitation to trigger his participation," says political analyst Kamran Yousaf. Yousaf says the invitation is just an SOPS and not a political move.
Former Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari attended the SCO Foreign Ministers' meet in India last year.
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