As suspense mounts over whether Pakistan's Foreign and Defense Ministers will take part in the meeting of their SCO counterparts in India, a top Pakistani official attended virtually the bloc's meeting in New Delhi on Friday.
The SCO is at present under the presidency of India. New Delhi will host the meeting of SCO defense ministers in April and the foreign ministers' huddle is set to take place in Goa the next month.
After Aun Chaudhry, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's adviser on Tourism & Sports, attended virtually the meeting of the SCO's tourism chiefs in India's national capital, the Pakistan Foreign Office said that its officials will continue to represent the country in such meetings.
"As an active member of the SCO, Pakistan will continue to participate in SCO activities and constructively contribute to their outcomes," Foreign Office spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a media briefing.
The development is significant, considering there has been virtually no contact between Indian and Pakistani officials since New Delhi stripped Indian-administered Kashmir of its special status in 2019.
Furthermore, it also appeared to have raised hopes that Pakistan's Foreign and Defense Ministers may attend the SCO meeting in India, about which Islamabad has remained non-committal so far.
Last week, India invited Pakistan Defense Minister Khawaja Asif to attend the SCO Defense Ministers' conclave in New Delhi.
Previously, New Delhi sent an invitation to Pakistan's foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, to attend the meeting of foreign ministers of the eight-nation SCO.