Islamabad: Pakistan has officially extended an invitation to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting scheduled to be held in Islamabad in mid-October.

During a weekly press briefing, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch confirmed that invitations have been sent to the leaders of the member states, including Prime Minister Modi. She noted that while some countries have already confirmed their participation, the details of which countries have confirmed will be announced in due course. The SCO heads of government meeting is set to take place on October 15-16. Prior to this, there will be a ministerial meeting and several rounds of senior officials' meetings focused on financial, economic, socio-cultural, and humanitarian cooperation among SCO member states.

Analysts suggest that the invitation might be seen as a matter of diplomatic protocol rather than an expectation of acceptance, given the current strained relations between India and Pakistan. It is anticipated that Prime Minister Modi may delegate a ministerial representative to attend, as previous SCO meetings have often seen India represented by ministers rather than heads of state. Prime Minister Modi did not attend the SCO's 24th annual summit held in Kazakhstan on July 3-4 this year, with India's representation provided by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in Astana.

Pakistani analysts, including political analyst Kamran Yousaf, have expressed skepticism about Prime Minister Modi's attendance, viewing the invitation as a standard diplomatic procedure rather than a political maneuver. Yousaf emphasized that while the invitation is a formality, it is unlikely that PM Modi will travel to Islamabad for the meeting. In a reciprocal gesture last year, Pakistan's then-Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari visited India for the SCO Foreign Ministers' meeting.

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