Pakistan

Pakistan invites Indian PM Modi for SCO meeting in Islamabad: Foreign Office

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Kashif Zia

2 years ago

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad has formally invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi including all heads of government of SCO member countries for the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting in Islamabad, the Foreign Office confirmed on Thursday.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said that we have also received some confirmations from the participants for the meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of SCO, scheduled to take place in Islamabad on October 15 and 16.

“An invitation has also been sent to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi,” she said at her weekly news briefing in Islamabad today. “It will be informed in due course which country has confirmed,” she added.

Responding to a question, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said Pakistan does not have direct bilateral trade relations with India.

It is pertinent to mention that, Pakistan’s then-foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari visited India to attend the two-day meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers. He was the first Pakistani foreign minister to visit India in almost 12 years.

Moreover, addressing the press briefing, Baloch said that United Nations Security Council resolutions clearly state that the final disposition of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute shall be made in accordance with the will of the people through a UN-supervised plebiscite.

Against this backdrop, she said that any other process cannot serve as a substitute for the grant of the right of self-determination to the Kashmiri people, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.

Furthermore, the spokesperson added that Pakistan’s foreign secretary was at the 50th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) being held in Cameroon’s Yaoundé from August 29 to 30.

“The foreign secretary will present Pakistan’s perspective on Gaza and Jammu and Kashmir there,” she said, adding that he will also discuss terrorism and other global issues during the moot.

Kashif Zia