India unlikely to slam Pak at SCO summit

China on Monday tacitly asked India to refrain from using the forthcoming summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Kyrgyz Republic to criticise Pakistan on the issue of cross-border terrorism emanating from its territory.

According to sources, New Delhi is unlikely to directly attack Pakistan for exporting terror to India and Afghanistan, but will use the forum to express its concern over the menace.

The SCO, which is led by China and Russia, will hold its summit at Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyz Republic, on Thursday and Friday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will join Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and others at the summit, A Gitesh Sharma, Secretary (West) of the Ministry of External Affairs, said on Monday.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will also attend the summit. This will be the first such occasion when Modi and Khan will attend a multilateral conclave together.

“The SCO was not established to target any country, but the summit at this level would certainly pay attention to major international and regional issues,” the PTI quoted Chinese Vice Foreign Minister, Zhang Hanhui, as saying in Beijing on Monday.

His comment apparently conveyed Beijing’s tacit message to New Delhi.