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India

In a first since Operation Sindoor, Pakistan to send a minister for the Delhi SCO event

2026-11-15

Bridge over a river under clouds, illustrative diplomacy image, not the SCO venue.

Pakistan announced on Saturday that it will participate in the inaugural Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Civilisational Dialogue, to be held in New Delhi from November 20 to 22 - the first ministerial-level visit between the two countries since last year's terror attack in Pahalgam. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had proposed the dialogue at the SCO summit in Tianjin in 2025.

Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Musadik Masood Malik, the Federal Minister for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination, will lead the country's delegation. India had invited Culture Minister Aurangzeb Khichi for the event; Malik, however, is considered a more experienced minister in the Pakistan government.

In its announcement, Pakistan said the event will bring together representatives of SCO member states to exchange views on civilisational dialogue and cultural understanding. Islamabad, it added, remains committed to promoting dialogue among civilisations and fostering people-to-people ties within the SCO framework in a spirit of mutual respect.

The first Pakistani minister's visit since May 2023

The last visit by a Pakistani minister to India was in May 2023, when then Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari travelled to Goa for a meeting of SCO foreign ministers. After that visit, India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar travelled to Pakistan the following year, again for an SCO foreign ministers' meeting. On both occasions, there was no bilateral meeting between the ministers.

Even without any substantive bilateral engagement for over a decade, both countries have continued to interact within the Eurasian bloc, which they joined as full members in 2017. Pakistan currently holds the SCO presidency and will host the heads-of-state summit next year. In the current circumstances, Modi's participation in that summit is considered unlikely, as India's position - that talks and terror cannot go hand in hand - has hardened further after the Pahalgam attack.

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