By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting, a rare move as the two nations have not exchanged high-level visits since tensions escalated over Kashmir in 2019.
The SCO heads of government meeting, scheduled for Oct. 15-16, will focus on financial, economic, socio-cultural, and humanitarian cooperation among member states. The event will be preceded by a ministerial meeting and several rounds of senior officials’ meetings.
“We have sent invitations to all heads of countries. An invitation has also been sent to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi,” Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said during a weekly press briefing.
“Some countries have already confirmed their participation in the meeting. It will be informed in due course which country has confirmed.”
Relations between Pakistan and India have been strained since August 2019, when India revoked Kashmir’s special status and split it into two federally administered territories. Pakistan responded by suspending trade and diplomatic ties.
In May last year, then-foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari visited India to attend the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers meeting, marking the first visit by a Pakistani foreign minister to India in almost 12 years.
Baloch also condemned Israel’s bombing of the historic Grand Mosque in Gaza’s Khan Younis and urged the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to protect Palestinians from Israeli violations of international law.
“Pakistan strongly condemns the bombing of the historic Grand Mosque… This attack is a grievous assault on a place of deep cultural and religious significance,” Baloch said. “It also constitutes a clear violation of international law.”
Baloch urged the UNSC to hold Israel accountable for “egregious violations” of international humanitarian law and “war crimes” in Gaza.
“We call on the UN Security Council to take urgent and concrete measures to end these blatant violations of international law and the UN charter, protect the Palestinian people, and hold Israel accountable for its egregious violations of international humanitarian law and the genocide and war crimes in Gaza.”
Pakistan does not recognize Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on “internationally agreed parameters” and the pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
Speaking about the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Cameroon, Baloch said Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi will present the country’s perspective on Gaza and Kashmir, along with other global issues.
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