India invites Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif for SCO meeting: Report

India has invited Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif to attend the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation SCO to be held in New Delhi in April according to a media report on WednesdayIndia currently holds the presidency of the SCO which comprises China India Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Russia Pakistan Tajikistan and UzbekistanAs President of the SCO India is set to host a series of meetingsDiplomatic sources told The Express Tribune newspaper that the Indian government shared the formal invitation with the Pakistan Foreign Office on TuesdayThere was no immediate confirmation from New Delhi on the Pakistani media reportIndia earlier invited Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial as well as shared an invitation for the meeting of foreign ministers of SCO the report saidThe chief justice however skipped the meeting of the SCO chief justices and instead Justice Muneeb Akhtar attended the meeting through a video link recently it saidThe foreign ministers meeting is scheduled for May in Goa while the defence ministers huddle will be held in New Delhi in AprilThe Pakistani government has said that it has not yet taken a decision on whether Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari or Defence Minister Asif will attend the meetings in IndiaBilawal and Chinas Qin Gang are among the foreign ministers of the SCO member nations invited by India for the meeting it is scheduled to host in MayThe Pakistan Foreign Office has said that the decision will be taken at an appropriate timeIf the Pakistani foreign minister attends the meeting in person it will be the first such visit from Islamabad to India since 2011 Then Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar visited India that year Khar is currently serving as the minister of state for foreign affairsAlso readMaharashtra Pakistan national held for allegedly staying in Pune with forged documentsIn May 2014 thenPakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif visited India to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modis swearingin ceremonyIn December 2015 then external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj visited Pakistan and days later Modi made a brief visit to the neighbouring countryThe ties between India and Pakistan came under severe strain after Indias warplanes pounded a JaisheMohammed terrorist training camp in Pakistans Balakot in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attackThe relations further deteriorated after India announced the withdrawal of Jammu and Kashmirs special powers and the bifurcation of the erstwhile state into Union territories in August 2019The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia China the Kyrgyz Republic Kazakhstan Tajikistan and UzbekistanOver the years it has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations India and Pakistan became permanent members of the Beijingbased SCO in 2017This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever