Did India deny Pakistan's entry to a SCO meet? All you need to know-

New Delhi, Mar 22: Pakistan did not attend a meeting of military medical professionals organised by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on Tuesday. However, according to Pakistan media reports it was claimed that India has blocked Pakistan’s participation to the SCO meet and called it an unprecedented move in the context of the forum.

 

The seminar, "SCO Armed Forces Contribution in Military Medicine, healthcare and pandemics", was organised by India’s Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses on Tuesday. The SCO members and observer states participated in the seminar.

 

It should be noted that Pakistan did not attend the SCO meet because the Indian side objected to the use of maps that wrongly depicted the country’s borders, particularly in Kashmir. The Indian side, including the foreign affairs ministry, highlighted the issue when Pakistani officials used identical maps at a previous SCO conference.

 

 

However, the Pakistani side was reportedly using maps that depicted Kashmir as part of the neighbouring nation, an issue that has plagued SCO meetings in recent years. So, the Pakistani side did not participate when the Indian side objected.

Responding to this, according to a Dawn report, Pakistan rejected the reasoning, saying that the the region was an internationally-recognised disputed territory ‘whose final disposition will be made in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions through a fair and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices’.

An official was quoted as saying "India has misused its position as the Chair [of the SCO] and acted irresponsibly in denying a sovereign member state the right to participate in an SCO event."