Pakistan considers India to be a barrier to its membership in the SCO.
Islamabad is now considering accepting Delhi’s offer to participate in SCO defense and foreign ministers’ meetings.
ISLAMABAD:
The Modi government may try to make it difficult for Pakistan to send representatives to the important ministerial meetings of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in India, according to an initial internal assessment. Pakistan may be considering attending these sessions.
Pakistan was considering accepting the invitation India gave as the SCO president for the next meetings of the defense and foreign ministers, according to official sources acquainted with the matter who spoke to The Express Tribune on Tuesday.
The SCO foreign ministers’ gathering will take place in May in Goa, while the SCO defense ministers’ gathering is set to take place later this month in Delhi. Invitations to both sessions were granted by India.
The Modi government’s strategy, however, gives the Foreign Office the impression that India might not be interested in Pakistan attending those high-profile meetings.
“We still haven’t made up our minds. The Modi administration may make it difficult for us to attend the SCO ministerial meetings, even if Pakistan wants to send its ministers, according to a source with knowledge of the behind-closed-door discussions.
The source asserted that it did not suit Prime Minister Modi to have Pakistan join the SCO meetings in India given the current situation. The neighboring country’s general elections are scheduled for the following year, and Prime Minister Modi has always profited from his anti-Pakistan campaign.
Sources formed this evaluation because of several recent happenings. At one such expert-level conference, for instance, India effectively withdrew Pakistan’s invitation after objecting to the map Pakistan’s team had used during the preceding discussion.
India took issue with the map’s depiction of Jammu and Kashmir as one single disputed entity.
Similar to this, India declined to send its cricket team to Pakistan for the next Asia Cup. India would want to play at a neutral site or transfer the Asian Cup out of Pakistan. As a result, it could be challenging for the Pakistani authorities to approve the Green Shirts’ trip to India for the 50-over World Cup later this year.
A plan to have Pakistan play all of its World Cup games in Bangladesh is already being considered.
All of this, according to the sources, demonstrated that the Indian government was not motivated to engage with Pakistan on regional platforms or even resume athletic connections.
To attend the SCO ministerial meetings, however, would be decided closer to the occasions. The choice Pakistan makes will also be influenced by China.
