Pakistan on Thursday skipped the first day of the two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) military medicine conference organised by India. The conference is being attended by 27 international and 40 Indian delegates. 

Pakistan skips Day 1 of SCO meet

The inaugural session at the conference, which was addressed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, found the seats allotted to Pakistan, vacant. When asked if Pakistan was invited to the conference, a Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said, "As far as I know, they were invited but they did not participate in today's meeting." Diplomatic sources said that Pakistan is expected to attend the second day of the conference on Friday, the Air Attache in Pakistan High Commission Abdul Adil may be present with another Pakistani official.

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India hosts SCO for the first time

This is the first military cooperation event hosted by India after becoming a full-time member of the SCO. India and Pakistan became SCO members in June 2017. Besides the two countries, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are also members of the SCO. 

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Pakistan's plight on Internation forums

Pakistan had to face embarrassment on Wednesday at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) when several parties including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres maintained that Kashmir is a bilateral issue and needs to be solved by the two nations via dialogue. Pakistan’s attempt of the third-party intervention was thwarted by India. 

Pakistan has been snubbed repeatedly on international forums in retaliation to abrogation of article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. Member nations of the United Nations, such as the US, UK, France and Russia have also supported India repeatedly, agreeing that Kashmir is India’s internal matter, thereby shunning Pakistan's desperate efforts. China, an all-weather ally of Pakistan, attempted to help Islamabad once again but its efforts were thwarted as the UNSC "closed doors meeting" resulted in favour of India.

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Pakistan was left red-faced when the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which is an association of Islamic nations refused to back Pakistan’s rhetoric. United Arab Emirates (UAE), a prominent member of IOC went on to confer Prime Minister Narendra Modi with highest civilian honour, leaving Pakistan powerless.

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