Pakistan receives India's invitation to SCO meeting in New Delhi, says Foreign Office

Pakistan has received an invitation from India to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting, Foreign Office spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan said at the weekly briefing on Friday. The meeting is scheduled for 20 to 22 November in New Delhi.

The spokesperson said Pakistan's leadership will decide whether to attend after consultation among the institutions concerned. No decision has been announced.

On a possible visit by the Chief Minister of Indian Punjab to Pakistan, he said the permission has to be given by the Indian government.

He said Pakistan has not withheld visas for Indian citizens. According to the spokesperson, Pakistan issued 4,000 more visas to Sikh pilgrims in the first six months of this year. In 2025 it issued 9,318 visas to Indian pilgrims, and 9,000 Sikh and 248 Hindu pilgrims visited Pakistan that year.

The spokesperson said India has suspended pilgrim movement through the Kartarpur corridor since May 2025. Pakistan, he said, is ready to welcome Sikh pilgrims once India lifts the restrictions, and is awaiting them for celebrations of the 557th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.

On other matters, he said Lieutenant General (retd) Nauman Mehmood will soon take up his duties as Secretary General of the Muslim military alliance in Riyadh.

He also said Pakistan facilitated talks between Iran and the United States as a sincere mediator, bringing to the negotiating table two countries that had not talked for 47 years.

A resolution proposed by Pakistan on conventional weapons control was adopted with 180 votes, he said. Only India and Israel voted against it.