PM Modi to travel to Pakistan? Islamabad formally invites Indian leader for SCO summit
PM Modi and Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif Photograph:( Agencies )
Story highlights
The Indian PM is highly unlikely to travel to Pakistan, given the tense relations between New Delhi and Islamabad over recent terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Indian PM is highly unlikely to travel to Pakistan, given the tense relations between New Delhi and Islamabad over recent terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.
Pakistan on Thursday (Aug 29) formally declared it was extending an invitation to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, slated to be held in Islamabad in October. Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson, confirmed that Islamabad had sent invitations to all SCO heads of nations ahead of the meeting.
"An invitation has also been sent to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi," said Baloch. She added that some nations have already confirmed their presence at the meeting.
"It will be informed in due course which country has confirmed," Baloch said.
Pakistan will host the SCO summit on October 15-16.
Will PM Modi travel to Pakistan?
The Indian PM is highly unlikely to travel to Pakistan, given the tense relations between New Delhi and Islamabad over recent terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir. Also, Pakistan’s invitation is reportedly being seen as a mere “protocol” in India.
SCO doesn’t require heads of state to personally attend the annual summits. So, the Indian leader is expected to dispatch a ministerial delegation to represent New Delhi.
Also read: Pakistan Army hit hard as Balochistan separatists kill its 50 members
It should be noted that PM Modi had skipped the SCO's 24th annual summit of heads of state held in Kazakhstan on July 3-4 this year. Instead, India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar had represented New Delhi there.
“I do not see PM Modi landing in Islamabad,” political analyst Kamran Yousaf was quoted as saying by news agency IANS.
Watch: Pakistan: Baloch Liberation Army claims responsibility for militants attacks in Balochistan
"Extending invitations to PM Modi and all other member states is a compulsive protocol any host country follows. Pakistan has done the same. I do not see this as a political stunt,” he added.
Last year, when the SCO summit took place in India, Pakistan chose to send its then-foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to India.
October’s summit will be preceded by a ministerial meeting and several rounds of senior officials' meetings focused on financial, economic, socio-cultural, and humanitarian cooperation among the SCO member states.
(With inputs from agencies)
