ISLAMABAD: Defence Minster Khawaja Asif will virtually attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting to be held in New Delhi next week.
The sources privy to the development said that the defence minister would join the meeting through a video link rather than going there physically.
He made this decision at the moment when his counterparts from Russia and China were going there to take part in the SCO meeting.
India which is president of the SCO these days had had extended invitation to Pakistan defence minister and other SCO members for the said meeting. India would also hold other series of events this year.
Shangai Cooperation Organization comprises China, Russia, India, Pakistan and some other key central Asian states while Pakistan and India are the full members of the regional grouping in 2017. Despite tensions, both sides attended SCO events including joint counter-terrorism drills by member states.
According to the latest reports, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is attending the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers meeting to be held in Goa in May. The decision of sending foreign minister was surprising for many as it was being expected that Pakistan either would downgrade its participation or the minister would take part via the video link.
The reports suggested that a long in-house meeting held to deliberate on participation of Bilawal Bhutto in the meeting and finally it was decided that he would represent Pakistan. The meeting is due on May 4 and May 5 in the India tourist resort in Goa.
FM Bilawal’s participation would be the first visit of any Pakistani foreign minister to India in last 13 years. There is a possibility of courtesy call between Bilawal and his Indian counterpart on the sidelines of the meeting.