India invites Pak Def Minister for SCO meet

New Delhi: India has invited Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) next month along with his counterparts from other member nations of the grouping, people familiar with the development said on Wednesday. The invite to Asif for the April 28 meeting was sent by India in its capacity as current chair of the eight-nation SCO, weeks after a similar communication was sent to Islamabad inviting Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for a foreign ministerial conclave of the grouping that is scheduled to be held in May.

"The invites to ministers and officials concerned of the SCO member nations for respective meetings are being sent as part of laid down norms," one of the people cited above said. They said Pakistan defence minister Asif was sent an invitation through the Indian high commission in Islamabad for the defence ministerial meeting. India is also set to send separate invites to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin for the annual SCO summit later this year.

The SCO member countries are India, Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan. While the SCO defence ministers' meeting is scheduled to be held in Delhi, the foreign ministerial conclave is set to take place in Goa in early May. India has already invited Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang for the meeting. The defence ministers' meeting is set to delve into various issues relating to regional security including the threat of terrorism and the situation in Afghanistan. The meeting will be chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, they said.