Pakistan names Malik for Delhi SCO forum, first visit in three years

Pakistan has named Climate Change Minister Musadik Masood Malik to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's Civilisational Dialogue Forum in New Delhi from 20 to 22 November, The New Indian Express reported. It will be the first visit by a Pakistani minister to India in more than three years.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Pakistan remained committed to the grouping's cultural track. "The Government of Pakistan remains committed to promoting dialogue among civilisations and fostering people-to-people contacts within the SCO framework in a spirit of mutual respect," the ministry said in a statement quoted by the paper.

India's invitation had been addressed to Aurangzeb Khan Khichi, the minister for national heritage and culture, not to Malik. The Pakistani statement did not say why Malik was chosen in his place, the report said.

Indian Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said a day before the announcement that he was hopeful Pakistan would confirm its participation. Asked about the invitation last month, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: "As per established practice, we have invited all SCO members."

The forum is an Indian proposal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi put it forward at the SCO summit in Tianjin in September last year, and it was written into the declaration adopted at this year's summit in Bishkek. More than 25 countries, including member states and dialogue partners, are expected to take part.

The last Pakistani minister to travel to India was then foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who attended the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Goa in May 2023. Ties have worsened since the Pahalgam attack and India's Operation Sindoor, which the Indian government has said is still ongoing.

The SCO has stayed one of the few channels open between the two governments. Pakistan took over the group's rotating chairmanship for 2026-27 at the Bishkek summit on 1 September and will host the leaders' summit in Islamabad in August 2027. India's SCO national coordinator, Alok Dimri, travelled to Islamabad in late September for the first meeting of national coordinators under the Pakistani chairmanship, according to The New Indian Express.

The Hindu also carried the announcement, describing it in its headline as the first visit by a Pakistani minister to India in three years.