India mulls over Pakistan’s SCO Summit invitation

Kolkata: Pakistan has come up with their official invitation for the Prime Minister of India for the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) Council of Heads of Government meeting to be held in Islamabad on the 16th of October. The Indian Foreign Minister, S Jaishankar, is more likely to represent India at the meeting. The External Affairs Ministry said on Friday it does not have an update on the invitation Pakistan extended to PM Modi for joining the SCO Summit. “Yes, we have received an invitation from Pakistan for the SCO meeting. We don’t have an update on that. We will let you know the situation later,’’ MEA’s spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said during the weekly press conference. The question arises as to whether India will participate in the meet, which again drags the hostile Indo-Pakistan relationship back to square one? Can Pakistan even expect S Jaishankar to join on behalf of the PM? Pakistan is in a lamentable situation for several reasons, including its economic downfall. The nation is in a stage of starvation with a constantly deteriorating economy. Pakistan is currently working up a loan from the IMF. The former Army Staff General Bajwa started communicating with the National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval, when the Pakistan Army wanted the Pakistan government to have a word with India. India strategists thought to have a better link with the Pakistani army; as the real navigator of power is the Pakistani army, the rest of the authorised positions are for show. Therefore, the Rawalpindi connectivity is an integral part of Indo-Pak diplomacy.

Narendra Modi amid being the Prime Minister invited Nawaz Sharif to his oath-taking ceremony. Disrupting all the protocols, the PM decided to join Nawaz Sharif on one of his family occasions at his abode in Pakistan. Inspire their healthy equation; the terrorism against India by none other than Pakistan was an alarming situation for PM Modi. He was bound to take a stand for his country by parting their diplomatic ways once and for all. The current stand of Pakistan is a whole new ball game, especially after the Uri and Pulwama attacks. Pakistan is ready to provide airspace to India for commercial flights. Pakistan is eager to talk with India and is on track with the Pakistani army, justifying their will to continue the ceasefire at the J&K border. Presently, there is an armistice situation at the border, which suddenly brings the confusing Indo-Pak relationship under the spotlight. PM Modi seems to be strict enough regarding his stand of not trying to dissolve the differences. They do not want to take any U-turn in their Pakistan policies, as they don’t share the trust of being a neighbouring country any more. Speaking of the launch of a book, Jaishanker said that the era of uninterrupted dialogue with Pakistan is over. Even though India is not in a neutral state, a reaction that might be positive or negative would be there. India is studying the situation where J&K elections are already knocking at the door. When the elections are around the corner, i.e., from 18th September to 1st of October, India wants to keep an eye on Pakistan regarding their further terrorist activities. Pak terrorists and insurgencies are going to be on the radar of India during the elections. Based on Pakistan’s hostile behaviour during the election in J&K, the presence of S Jaishankar at the SCO meeting would be determined. The last SCO Summit was hosted by India near the time of the G20 summit, which was organised in an online virtual mode. The then-foreign minister of Pakistan, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, was a part of the summit, but there was no bilateral talk or even an exchange of greetings with India. Remembering the last-to-last summit before India hosted the SCO Summit, there was a mutual exchange of dialogue between India, Russia, and China, but Pakistan was excluded as always.