India Invites Pakistan To SCO Forum 18 Months After Operation Sindoor

India will hold the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's first Civilisational Dialogue Forum in New Delhi from November 20 to 22. Pakistan is one of the 10 member states invited to the three-day meeting, and Pakistan's Minister for National Heritage and Culture, Aurungzeb Khan Khichi, has also received an invitation. Islamabad has not yet said who will attend. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to open the forum, which will draw representatives from more than 25 countries to Purana Quila. The Ministry of Culture is running the event with the Ministry of External Affairs.

This SCO event’s invitation to Pakistan comes nearly 18 months after Operation Sindoor, the four-day military confrontation triggered by the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.

The forum will centre on civilisational ties, cultural diplomacy and joint work in heritage, education and traditional knowledge systems. Officials said the plan is meant to build cultural understanding, shared heritage and people-to-people exchanges among SCO member states and partner countries. Purana Quila was chosen to reflect India's focus on its historical and civilisational heritage as it hosts a multilateral cultural event.

Invitations have gone out to culture ministers from all 10 SCO member states, including Russia, China, the UAE, Iran, Belarus and Pakistan. Officials have also asked representatives from observer countries and dialogue partners to attend.

Modi's Proposal And Diplomacy

Prime Minister Modi first proposed the Civilisational Dialogue Forum at the SCO leaders' summit in Tianjin in 2025, and the grouping later adopted it.

If Khichi attends, it would mark the first visit by a Pakistani minister to India since the SCO foreign ministers' meeting in Goa in 2023. Pakistan's then foreign minister, Bilawal Bhutto, attended that meeting.

The Pakistan question is under close watch as ties stay strained. Even so, India has kept contact with Islamabad through the SCO route. In September 2026, India sent its SCO National Coordinator, Alok Dimri, to Islamabad for a meeting before Pakistan takes over the grouping's presidency and ahead of the SCO leaders' summit due in August 2027. Pakistan has yet to decide who will represent it at the Civilisational Dialogue Forum.

The forum will gather SCO member states and partner countries for talks on common cultural traditions, heritage and cooperation. It also signals India's continued outreach to the grouping through cultural diplomacy and people-to-people exchanges.