Pakistan invites Indian PM to Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting

Narendra Modi is likely to decline Islamabad’s invitation amid border tensions between the two neighbors

Pakistan has invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in October. Islamabad currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the Council of Heads of Government, the organization’s second most important decision-making body.

Modi is likely to skip the event, however, and instead delegate a minister to represent India, as has been done in the past, the Times of India reported on Sunday. Notably, the prime minister missed the last SCO summit in Kazakhstan in July as it coincided with a parliament session, as well as coming just days before his visit to Moscow. Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar represented the country at the summit.

Both India and Pakistan have been members of the Beijing-headquartered SCO since June 2017. According to the Times of India report, however, India is “cautious” of China’s influence within the SCO and has refused to endorse Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative in joint statements. New Delhi is also concerned about “efforts to position the group as an anti-Western platform,” the newspaper noted. 

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India’s relationship with Pakistan has been tense historically and has worsened in recent years. The dispute largely stems from both countries’ claims to Kashmir, a former princely state with a Muslim majority. The two neighbors have fought several wars over the region. Despite a ceasefire agreed in February 2021, sporadic clashes continue. 

New Delhi has also repeatedly accused Islamabad of supporting “cross-border terrorism.” Last month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused Pakistan of “failing to learn from history” by backing terrorists, which Islamabad denounced as “bravado and jingoism.”

In turn, Pakistan has accused India of “orchestrating targeted assassinations, subversion and terrorism in foreign territories.” Islamabad has claimed that “Indian agents” killed two Pakistani citizens linked to terrorist groups on its soil earlier this year – an accusation that New Delhi has dismissed as “false and malicious” propaganda.

READ MORE: India and China hold talks to end border dispute

New Delhi decided to refrain from inviting China or Pakistan to the virtual Voice of the Global South summit held earlier this month.