No PM Modi-Imran Khan meeting on the sidelines of SCO, says MEA
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Monday said there would not be held any meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart, Imran Khan, on the sidelines of the SCO summit.
The summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan will be held on June 13-14.
"There is no meeting being organised between Prime Minister Modi and the prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, at SCO Summit. There is nothing more that we can add at this stage," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, in a press conference, said.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is an eight-member economic integration bloc of which India became a part in 2017.
It was earlier being speculated that PM Modi would meet Imran Khan at the meet, and if it could happen, it would be their first meeting after the Balakot airstrike.
India had even requested Pakistan to let PM Modi's aircraft fly over its airspace to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan.
Pakistan had fully closed its airspace on February 26 after an Indian Air Force (IAF) strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camp in Balakot. Since then, it has only opened two routes -- both of them pass through southern Pakistan, of the total 11.
Over the last few years, India has refused any initiative for talks, citing cross-border terror had to stop before talks could begin.
In April (at the time of the Lok Sabha election), Imran Khan was quoted as saying that he saw a better chance of peace talks with India if PM Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the mandate.
The MEA, however, added there would be held a bilateral meeting between PM Modi and China President Xi Jinping, and another bilateral meeting with Russia President Vladimir Putin.
"There will be a bilateral meeting between PM Modi and President Putin, and between PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of SCO Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan," Gitesh Sharma, Secretary (West), MEA said.
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