In First Since Operation Sindoor, India Invites Pakistan to SCO Meet in Delhi

India has invited Pakistan’s National Heritage and Culture Minister, Aurangzeb Khan Khichi, to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) Civilisational Dialogue Forum in New Delhi on November 20-21, sources told The Indian Express on Tuesday.

The invitation marks the first time India has invited a senior Pakistani minister since military hostilities between the two countries following Operation Sindoor in May 2025, launched in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack.

The last time India hosted a senior Pakistani minister was in May 2023, when Pakistan’s then Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto travelled to Goa to attend a meeting of SCO foreign ministers.

Delhi’s invitation is part of its obligation to include representatives of all SCO member states, having proposed to host the civilisational dialogue. Pakistan is scheduled to host the SCO summit of leaders next year.

For India, the diplomatic challenge lies in balancing its frozen bilateral ties with Pakistan against its obligations under multilateral forums. Relations have remained suspended for nearly a decade following the Pathankot and Uri attacks in 2016, even as the two countries continue to engage within multilateral frameworks.

The civilisational dialogue, expected to take place at one of Delhi’s iconic monuments in November, was first proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the SCO Council of Heads of State summit in Tianjin in September 2025. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh formally announced India’s decision to host the event while addressing the 25th SCO Council of Heads of Government meeting in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on October 20, 2026.

The forum aims to strengthen people-to-people ties and cultural engagement among Eurasian member states, while showcasing the shared heritage, art, literature and traditions of ancient civilisations.

India-Pakistan engagement under the SCO framework gained momentum last month when a senior Indian official visited Islamabad and raised issues relating to “connectivity, regional connectivity, transit and trade”.

Alok Dimri, India’s national coordinator for the grouping, told Pakistan’s public broadcaster PTV that the SCO had reached the neighbourhood after its previous meetings in East and Central Asia. The last two summits were held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and Tianjin, China.

Dimri, an Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, led the Indian delegation at the SCO national coordinators’ meeting in Islamabad. Recalling Modi’s proposal for a civilisational dialogue among member states, he said it had been decided that the event would be held in New Delhi on November 20.

“This is a journey where Eurasian and Asian landmass member states have come together on the SCO platform,” he said.

The SCO comprises 10 member states: Russia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus and China.

The Indian delegation’s participation in an SCO meeting in Pakistan was the first such visit in nearly two years. In October 2024, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar travelled to Islamabad for the SCO Council of Heads of Government meeting, during which he met senior Pakistani leaders under the multilateral framework.