Pakistani Representatives Skip 2-Day SCO Conference in Delhi, Attend Only Dinner: Report

New Delhi, September 13: Although Pakistani representatives arrived on the final day of the two-day military medicine conference of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) held in Delhi, they did not participate in the event, reports citing Indian Army sources said on Friday. The SCO event was held in Delhi on September 11-12, and was attended by the representatives of all member-nations barring Pakistan.

After Islamabad had skipped the first day of the event on Wednesday, the Imran Khan government decided to send two representatives on Thursday. However, they did not participate in the event and attend only the dinner, according to Army officials who spoke to news agency ANI.

Update by ANI:

Pakistan's absence from the SCO event reflects the hardline approach which the neighbouring country has adopted to protest India's decision of revoking Jammu & Kashmir's semi-autonomous status.

Following the August 5 shock move of the Narendra Modi government, the rhetoric has been rising on both sides of the border. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, while addressing a "Kashmir Hour" rally in Islamabad last week, said his country would go to any extent to "liberate" the people of Kashmir.

On the other hand, top officials of the Indian government have sent feelers that next on the Centre's agenda is the reunification of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) with J&K. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had stressed during his recent public address that any future dialogue with Islamabad would be held on the issue of PoK.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 13, 2019 07:10 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).