India has invited Pakistan to the inaugural Civilisational Dialogue Forum of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, to be held in Delhi from November 20 to 22. Pakistan's Minister for National Heritage and Culture, Aurangzeb Khan Khichi, is among those invited, The Hindu reported, citing diplomatic sources.
Officials told Hindustan Times that all 10 members of the grouping have been invited and that the forum has nothing to do with bilateral relations with Pakistan. The event is being organised by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of External Affairs.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed the dialogue at the SCO leaders' summit in Tianjin last year, and the SCO Council adopted the proposal. Modi is expected to inaugurate the three-day event at Purana Quila, the 16th century fort built by Emperor Humayun, The Hindu reported.
Culture ministers from the 10 member states, including China, Russia, Iran and Belarus, have been invited. Invitations have also gone to 15 dialogue partner and observer countries.
Each participating state has been asked to nominate a delegation led by its culture minister, with up to four government representatives. The delegation can include officials, scholars, heritage professionals or heads of cultural institutions.
Pakistan has not confirmed who will lead its delegation., The Hindu reported. If Khichi attends, he would be the first Pakistani minister to visit India since the SCO foreign ministers' meeting in Goa in May 2023.
The then Pakistani foreign minister, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, attended that meeting. No Pakistani minister has visited India since the four-day conflict between the two countries in May 2025.
The invitation comes nearly 18 months after Operation Sindoor, the military confrontation triggered by the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people. Indian forces struck nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir between May 7 and the ceasefire on May 10 evening.
The Indian Air Force hit targets at 13 Pakistani airbases and military installations during the same period. It said Indian forces killed at least 100 terrorists in the strikes.
The SCO has continued to host high-level exchanges between India and Pakistan without any bilateral engagement between them. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar visited Pakistan in October 2024 for the SCO Council of Heads of Government meeting, the first trip by an Indian foreign minister to Pakistan in nine years.
On October 20, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh called for joint action to dismantle terrorism at the 25th meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. He spoke in the presence of Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Ishaq Dar.
In September, India's SCO National Coordinator, Alok Dimri, attended the first coordination meeting in Islamabad for Pakistan's SCO presidency. Pakistan will host the leaders' summit in August 2027.
MEA Secretary (West) Sibi George said on August 27 that India deals with the SCO as an entity and as an important organisation. Asked whether Modi would travel to Pakistan for next year's summit, he said the decision would be taken by the appropriate authority at the appropriate time.
The forum will hold four thematic sessions. They cover monastic trails and religious and philosophical traditions, art and architecture, language and manuscript traditions, and living cultural expressions.