No India-Pakistan bilateral meet planned between Narendra Modi and Imran Khan at SCO: MEA

The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday confirmed that no meeting has been planned between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan at the Shanghai Cooperation Summit in Bishkek. “To the best of my knowledge, no meeting has been planned between prime minister Modi and Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan at the SCO Summit in Bishkek,” ANI quoted Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar as saying. [caption id=“attachment_6172821” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] On Pakistan foreign secretary Sohail Mahmood’s visit to India, Kumar said, “It was a personal visit and there was no meeting scheduled with him.” Earlier on Wednesday, Mahmood had offered Eid prayers at the Jama Masjid in New Delhi. Mahmood, who was Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India before he assumed charge of the top post in mid-April, arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday night. Tensions between the two countries worsened after the Pulwama terror attack and both the countries were almost on the brink of war after India’s military planes struck a terrorist training camp in Pakistan’s Balakot on 26 February and Pakistan carried out a counter-offensive the next day. Breaking the ice in bilateral ties, Khan on 26 May spoke to Modi on the phone and expressed his desire to work together for peace and prosperity in the region. Modi on his part called for creating trust and an environment free of violence and terrorism for fostering peace and prosperity in the region. Before returning to Pakistan on 14 April, Mahmood had told PTI that dialogue between India and Pakistan was the only option to understand mutual concerns and ensure peace, prosperity, and security in the region. He said Pakistan was hoping for “re-engagement” with India after the Lok Sabha polls. “Sustained engagement and structured dialogue would enable the two countries to understand mutual concerns and differences, resolve outstanding disputes and build the edifice of durable peace, security and prosperity in the region,” Mahmood had said. India has not been engaging with Pakistan following the attack on the Air Force base at Pathankot in January of 2016, maintaining that talks and terror cannot go together. With inputs from PTI