New Delhi: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan on Thursday confirmed that India has invited Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Foreign Ministers meeting, adding that decision to accept the invitation will be taken in due course. In response to a query during the weekly media briefing on Thursday, regarding the reported invitation extended to Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to participate in SCO ministerial meeting in India, Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said, "India is holding the rotating chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of State for the year 2022-2023. Every year, SCO develops a calendar of activities, which includes the meeting of the Foreign Ministers."
Mumtaz Zahra Baloch indicated that "in that capacity, the chair extends an invitation to all member states." As in the past, these invitations are being processed as per standard procedures and a decision will be taken in due course. SCO is an important transregional organisation that aims at strengthening economic linkages and cooperation among its member states in different fields, she added.
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This comes after India extended an invitation to Islamabad to attend the SCO in May in Goa. Earlier this month, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reached out to India for talks, saying that his country has learned its lesson after three wars with India and reiterated that now it wants peace with its neighbour.
India, on the other hand, had said that it has always wanted normal ties with Pakistan. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "We have said that we have always wanted normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan. But there should be a conducive atmosphere that does not have terror, hostility, or violence. That remains our position."
Meanwhile, no official announcement has been made by India's External Affairs Ministry regarding the invitation to Pakistan FM Bilawal for the SCO meet. However, according to government sources, "usually India as chair of SCO sends invites to everyone". Other members of SCO are China, Russia as well as four other central Asian countries, including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It is pertinent to note that the invitation to Pakistan's Foreign Minister comes after he called PM Narendra Modi "Butcher of Gujarat" during a media talk at United Nations last month.
