— Says matters within SCO framework to be discussed at CHG-SCO meeting
— Confirms no request made by India for bilateral meeting on SCO sidelines
ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar reaffirmed the country’s commitment to successfully hosting the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, despite attempts by a political party to disrupt proceedings through protests.
Without naming Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Dar criticised the party for trying to sabotage the summit with their call for protests.
Speaking during a walk-through event in Islamabad to review the summit’s arrangements, Dar emphasised that Pakistan was fully prepared to welcome leaders and delegates from SCO member and observer countries. “We are ready to extend a warm welcome to the summit participants, including the Indian foreign minister,” he stated.
Dar highlighted that Pakistan was hosting a major international event after several years and would handle its responsibilities with excellence. He also noted that while China’s prime minister would be visiting Pakistan for bilateral talks, no request for a bilateral meeting had been received from India’s foreign minister.
The SCO secretary-general would brief the media on the conference, and all stakeholders, including the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had played crucial roles in the summit’s preparations.
Reflecting on past events, Dar pointed out that PTI had staged a sit-in during a previous visit by the Chinese prime minister in 2014 and was now attempting to disrupt the SCO summit.
“Protests during nationally significant events do not send a positive message,” Dar said, urging the political party to reconsider its approach.
He said that Pakistan was ready to host Council of Heads of Government (CHG) of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting on October 15-16 in Islamabad in which different significant issues would be discussed under the SCO framework.
He said that certain countries had requested for bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the CHG-SCO which were finalized. Replying to a query, Dar said that India had not requested for such bilateral meeting and only the matters related to SCO framework would be discussed by the SCO member states at the multilateral forum.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar also accompanied the deputy prime minister and foreign minister during a walk with the media persons to provide them first-hand information about the preparations of SCO summit.
About invitation to Afghanistan, the deputy prime minister and foreign minister said that since 2021, the Observers Status of that country had been virtually suspended as Afghanistan had neither been invited to nor participated in SCO meetings.
Therefore, he said, Pakistan could not take decision alone in this regard as the decisions were taken on the SCO forum by the member states. Dar, to another question, said Pakistan is a host to CHG-SCO and would fully meet the responsibility.
About the North-South and South-South connectivity, he said the discussions with the relevant countries were in progress and continuing on the bilateral and multilateral levels.
But within the SCO framework and protocol, certain matters would be discussed under specific scope of discussions and within its contours, he further clarified.
