India invitations Bilawal Bhutto to SCO assembly to be held in Goa

As the chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), India has invited Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Minister Bilawal Bhutto, and the Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial to attend overseas ministers’ and chief justices’ assembly which is scheduled to happen in Goa in May.

Pakistan, nonetheless, is but to reply to the invite despatched by India via its High Commission in Islamabad. It is notable that India took over the rotating presidency of the eight-member grouping in September final 12 months. India has despatched formal invites to all of the SCO member nations together with Pakistan and China.

“In keeping with its ‘Neighbourhood First Policy’, India desires normal neighborly relations with Pakistan. India has consistently argued that any disputes should be resolved bilaterally, amicably, and in an atmosphere free of terror and violence. The onus is on Pakistan to create such a conducive environment. India has made it clear that it will not make compromises on matters involving national security and that it will act firmly and decisively to thwart any attempts to compromise its security and territorial integrity,” The Indian Express quoted a prime official as saying.

This comes days after the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif in an interview with Dubai-based Al Arabiya TV mentioned that Pakistan has discovered its lesson after three wars with India and careworn that now it needs peace with its neighbor. 

“We have had three wars with India, and they have only brought more misery, poverty, and unemployment to the people. We have learned our lesson, and we want to live in peace with India, provided we are able to resolve our genuine problems,” Sharif mentioned within the interview.

Earlier in December 2022, Bilawal Bhutto made derogatory remarks about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In New York, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari referred to as PM Narendra Modi the‘ butcher of Gujarat’. He additionally accused India of finishing up terror assaults in Pakistan and denied that Pakistan is sponsoring terrorism. He made the feedback responding to remarks of Indian overseas minister S Jaishankar on the UNSC, the place he had identified that Osama Bin Laden was discovered hiding in Pakistan.

Notably, Pakistan has determined not to take part within the SCO Film Festival, which might be held in Mumbai from January 27 to 30. The third such movie competition hosted by the group has obtained submissions from all nations excluding Pakistan.

It is pertinent to notice that that is the primary time in over a decade that India has prolonged such an invite. In 2011, Hina Rabbani Khar was the final Pakistani overseas minister to go to India.

Ever because the Narendra Modi authorities abrogated Article 370 in Jammu Kashmir, the already strained Indo-Pak bilateral ties have been affected. The Modi authorities additionally took a strict stand in opposition to Pakistan’s state-sponsored cross-border terrorism. 

The SCO at present has eight member nations (China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan), 4 observer states keen on acceding to full membership (Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia), and 6 “Dialogue Partners” (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Turkey).

Notably, the Shanghai Five, which was shaped in 1996, grew to become the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in 2001 with the addition of Uzbekistan. The SCO expanded to turn out to be one of many largest multilateral organizations on the earth, representing greater than 30% of the world’s GDP and 40% of the world’s inhabitants, with the addition of India and Pakistan in 2017 and the choice to confess Tehran as a full member in 2021.