India invites Pakistan’s FM, CJP to SCO meet

NEW DELHI: India has taken over the rotating presidency of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and has sent invitations to all its eight members, including Pakistan and China, to attend its meetings in Goa in May.

New Delhi has invited Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial to attend the foreign ministers’ and chief justices’ meetings.

Pakistan is yet to respond to the invite.

According to a media report, the invitation was delivered by the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. If Pakistan accepts it, Bilawal would be its first foreign minister to visit India after a gap of nearly 12 years.

Sources close to the foreign minister said the decision on participation in the SCO meeting would be made after consultation with the “stakeholders”.

Pakistan has already said no to the SCO Film Festival in Mumbai (Jan 27-30).

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that the only way forward for both Pakistan and India was to hold talks.

In an interview with Dubai-based Al Arabiya TV, PM Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan wants peace with its neighbour. “We have had three wars with India, and they have only brought more misery, poverty, and unemployment to the people. We have learned our lesson, and we want to live in peace with India, provided we are able to resolve our genuine problems,” he Sharif was quoted as saying in the interview.