Pakistan Hesitant to Participate in SCO Summit Under Indian Presidency Amid Strained Bilateral Ties
14:38 GMT 16.09.2022 (Updated: 18:20 GMT 16.09.2022)
© AFP 2023 / ALEXANDER NEMENOV
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India took over the presidency of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) from Uzbekistan at the Samarkand summit on Friday and is expected to host the leaders’ meeting next year. Chinese President Xi Jinping has already extended his support to New Delhi on its SCO presidency.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that his government was yet to make a decision on whether to participate in the SCO leadership summit next year, as India assumes the leadership of the eight-member Eurasian grouping.
“There is no decision yet on Pakistan's participation in the next SCO summit,” Bhutto told India’s ANI news agency in Samarkand, where he is part of the Pakistani delegation at the SCO’s Council of Heads of State (CHS) meeting which concluded on Friday.
The Pakistani foreign minister further said that there weren’t any contradictions as such between the official statements of the Indian and Pakistani prime ministers.
“All those participating in this conference want transit trade,” he said, thus underlining a core agenda item of the SCO states, all of which have called for boosting regional connectivity in order to advance post-COVID global economic recovery, which has been hampered by a surge in fuel and food prices owing to Western sanctions against Russia.
While Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif didn’t hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the SCO summit, the two leaders did come face-to-face in at least two sessions — a restricted event and an extended leaders’ session.
Zardari’s remarks expressing doubt about Islamabad’s involvement in the next SCO summit in India against the backdrop of strained ties between the two neighbors.
Prime Minister Modi’s government has said that it can’t carry out normal bilateral relations with Pakistan until its ceases alleged support for terrorist groups "targeting Indian interests," including Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT)* and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM)*.
Islamabad, on the other hand, downgraded its diplomatic and commercial ties with New Delhi after the Indian parliament revoked the semi-autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019. The region is disputed between the two neighbors, both of whom control separate parts of it.
Former Indian Diplomats Slam Pakistan's Hesitancy
Meanwhile, former Indian diplomats have criticized Pakistan for letting its strained ties with India affect cooperation in a multilateral grouping such as the SCO.
“The statement by Pakistan’s FM is indicative of their obstinance and immaturity with regard to India-centric zero-sum approach, which is in contravention to the basic foundational principles of the SCO,” ex-Indian diplomat Anil Trigunayat told Sputnik.
Preet Malik, another former envoy, reckoned that Islamabad will come under a lot of pressure from other SCO states should it decide to boycott the Indian presidency of the SCO.
“Even Chinese President Xi Jinping has expressed support for the Indian presidency. Beijing would certainly pressure Pakistan to not let the bilateral agenda affect the working of the SCO,” Malik said.
* Terrorist organizations banned in Russia
