Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif shared that the country will “invite” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which will take place in October
On Tuesday, Khawaja slammed down the rumours that PM Modi will not attend the upcoming SCO during a conversation with a private news channel.
The defence minister replied when he was asked about Pakistan’s plan to invite Indian PM, "Yes, certainly there should be no doubt about it.”
While explaining his stance, he recalled India had invited then-foreign minister Bilawal-Bhutto Zardari to Delhi for a regional summit in July 2023.
Furthermore, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued a clarification and warned news channels to refrain from igniting rumours on the matter, as per a report published in The News.
“We have noticed several outlets are running news that the PM [Modi] won’t attend an SCO meeting in Pakistan or EAM [external affairs minister] will attend an SCO meeting in Pakistan,” the country foreign ministry said.
The media outlet further noted, “MEA hasn’t commented on this matter and would request speculative news in this regard be avoided.”
The SCO is an important multilateral platform for both countries, primarily for regional security and collaboration with Central Asian nations.
