Indo-Pak Turmoil and The Role Of SCO.

Byline: Ayesha Nayyar

The SCO as we know it now was originally rooted in a 1995 treaty, and dubbed the Shanghai Five in 1996, with China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan as members. Uzbekistan joined in 2001 and the group - initially focused closely on military and border matters between China and what had been the Soviet Union until 1991 - transformed into an SCO with ambitions of deeper cooperation.

In 2017, after years of dithering and delay, India and Pakistan were finally formally made members of the SCO. As per The Diplomat, "In recent years the big drama of the SCO was its expansion to include both India and Pakistan". In 2017 it was assumed that the inclusion of both India and Pakistan will not only expand the SCO's geographic writ, pushing it that much closer to a pan-Asian forum, but, with their inclusion, the SCO suddenly finds itself with that much more geopolitical heft. With rising China, resurgent Russia and realignment of regional and global dynamics, the role and significance of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has increased manifold.

The Summit of SCO was the second for Pakistan and India as full members of the organization, which brings new opportunities and hope as well as challenges for the region keeping in view the on-going rift between two Giants and inherited rivals of the sub-continent - Pakistan and India. As the heads of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) counties descend on Bishkek for the group's 19th Leaders' Summit on June 14, it's about that time to ask: "So what?" While much of the media hype in Pakistan and India surrounded the "will it/ won't it" happen meeting between Indian PM Narendra Modi and Pakistani PM Imran Khan (which ultimately resulted in an exchange of pleasantries), the summit saw several key bilateral meetings that took place apart from the multilateral meeting of the Heads of State.

The perpetual tumult of India-Pakistan relations was a concern for regional observers - can the SCO's Shanghai Spirit - "mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations and pursuit of common development" as the Chinese put it - thrive if some of its members are on the edge of conflict with regularity?

The answer is broadly yes: the SCO has weathered conflict between members in the past with a combination of fingers-in-the-ear ignoring of tensions and platitudes about respect for internal affairs and appeals for stability. But at the same...