Pakistani Defenсe Minister Khawaja Asif, will not attend the upcoming summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's (SCO) defense chiefs in India and will instead participate in the meeting online, according to Pakistan's Express Tribune.
"India invited the Defenсe Minister of Pakistan, along with other SCO members to attend the meeting. However, according to official sources, Asif will join the meeting via video call," the publication reports, without specifying the reason for the cancellation of the trip.
Despite tensions between India and Pakistan over Kashmir and cross-border terrorism, representatives of both countries have attended all previous gatherings, except for one meeting of the working group, where New Delhi withdrew an invitation, citing Islamabad’s use of the "wrong map" of Kashmir.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, plans to personally attend the SCO Foreign Ministers’ meeting in the Indian state of Goa on May 4th and 5th, the first visit by a Pakistani top diplomat to India since 2011.
"There is a possibility of a courtesy call between Bilawal and his Indian counterpart on the sidelines of the meeting… If Bilawal’s visit goes smoothly, there is a likelihood that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif may travel to New Delhi in July for a high-level meeting," the publication notes.