Islamabad: A day after India said that it will invite all SCO members for the upcoming 19th Shanghai Cooperation Organisations summit, Pakistan on Friday said that the country is waiting for an official invitation and indicated that the Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to the neighboring country will depend on bilateral relations between the two countries at that time.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government sources said that Islamabad is committed to the SCO mechanism.
"Let the invite come at first, whenever the invite comes, we will consider that in lieu of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and our bilateral relations with India, at that time. We reiterate once again, We are committed to the SCO mechanism," said government sources on Imran Khan's participation at the SCO's Head of Government's summit in India.
New Delhi for the first time will host the next meeting of the SCO members states' heads of government later this year.
Read also: UNSC concerned about Kashmir issue, says China
In June 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Khan attended the SCO summit in Bishkek. During the summit, Modi made a veiled attack on Pakistan while addressing the plenary session, stating that the countries which support and finance terrorism must be held accountable.
Ministry of external affairs' spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, while addressing a weekly briefing on Thursday, said that all heads of the government of member states including Prime Minister Imran Khan will be invited as per the standard procedure.
The SCO is an intergovernmental organization founded in Shanghai. The organisation currently comprises eight Member States -- China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, four Observer States interested in acceding to full membership -- Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia -- and six "Dialogue Partners" -- Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Turkey.
Read also: Pakistan: Hindu community protest in Karachi against Namrita's murder
