India has invited all members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), including the foreign ministers of China and Pakistan, to the upcoming foreign ministers’ meeting at Goa in May this year, Indian media reported on Wednesday.
“So far, there is no confirmation from the Pakistani side whether foreign minister Bilawal will attend the meeting or not,” sources said.
If Pakistan accepts the invitation, Bilawal will be its first foreign minister to visit India after Hina Rabbani Khar in July 2011.
The invitation came days after Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in an interview with Al Arabiya news channel, called for talks with India Modi to resolve the burning issues, including Kashmir.
Kashmir has remained a burning issue between the two nuclear powers since 1947, and the two countries have fought three wars.
After the revocation of the autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir on 5 August 2019 by the Indian government, tensions arose again, and Shehbaz called it an injustice action.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization comprises China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Iran as the group’s latest members.
Last year meeting of the organization was held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. This year India will be the host for all the members of the organization, and the meeting will be held on May 4-5 in Goa, India.
