November’s SCO summit in India highly dangerous

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will take up the question of holding of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Moscow next week where the conclave of the foreign ministers of eight member countries has been scheduled and SCO heads of government meeting has been slated for November in India.

The vast spread of Covid-19 pandemic in India has made the proposition extremely hazardous. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will be proceeding to Russian capital next week for taking part in the foreign ministers conclave of the SCO countries where he will highlight Pakistan’s standing pertaining to the organisation of which Pakistan became member in 2017 as the result of diplomatic efforts of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif after availing observer’s status for 12 long years.

Well-placed diplomatic sources told The News here Friday that India has extended invitation to the heads of government of member countries for the summit, but the fear of coronavirus is so enormous that none of the members has formally accepted the invitation as yet. Pakistan has also received the invitation but no response has been given yet. The sources pointed out that Pakistan would ask for changing of the rendezvous of the summit.

The SCO is an eight-nation regional grouping that represents around 42 percent of the world’s population and 20 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP). Pakistan has more than a decade of engagement with the organisation and it has planned to play a more meaningful role in this regional grouping in the backdrop of international developments and Pakistan’s enhancing interest in the regional grouping. Pakistan is too close to the member countries on account of its geographic placement that increases its role in it.

The sources reminded that India is a misfit character in the fold of SCO since it has been enhancing tension with two major members of the organisation namely Pakistan and China which is flagrant defiance of the SCO charter. Pakistan was an observer at SCO since 2005 and became its full member in 2017. Ever since the country has been pushing for connectivity projects to gain access to resource-rich central Asian region which is bound by the enduring binds of centuries of common history and proximity of faith.

Foreign Minister Qureshi who will be leading country’s delegation for the foreign ministers moot is expected to have meetings with his Chinese, Russian and Kazakhstan counterparts while foreign ministers of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan will also have bilateral meeting with Foreign Minister Qureshi on the brinks of the conference.

The sources reminded that Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s meeting with his Indian counterpart Jaishankar isn’t on the cards as India hasn’t requested for such meeting till Friday. Shah Mehmood Qureshi will discuss the apprehensions involved in having heads of government meeting in India in the course of his discussion with fellow ministers.

Indian Prime Minister Narindra Modi has send invitation for council of heads of government meeting to Mukhammedkalyi Abylgaziev of Kyrgyzstan, Kohir Rasulzoda of Tajikistan, Abdulla Aripov of Uzbekistan, Imran Khan of Pakistan, Li Keqiang of China, Askar Mamin of Kazakhstan, and Mikhail Mishustin of Russia.

In the meanwhile, defence ministers’ meeting of the SCO countries which was started on Friday in Moscow, was taking up several issue for regional cooperation in the field of defence. Pakistan is being represented in the meeting by Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Nadeem Raza while China, Russia, India and other members countries are being represented by their respective defence ministers. The sources said that Pakistan’s Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak had also planned to proceed to Moscow to attend the defence ministers meeting, but he had to change his mind at the eleventh hour without assigning any reason.

Chinese defence minister had one-to-one meeting with Indian defence minister on Friday evening where they discussed standoff between the forces of the two countries in the bordering area of Ladakh. Indians have been claiming that China requested for the meeting, but independent sources said that host Russia proposed the meeting and Moscow’s indulgence made the meeting possible. The meeting couldn’t yield any solid outcome except continuation of talks to sort out military dispute. It is intriguing that Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak couldn’t travel to Moscow for the exceptionally important meeting of SCO defence ministers. The official sources close to the minister couldn’t cite any plausible reason for his parrying the visit. Pervaiz Khattak was approached but he wasn’t available for comments.