SCO meeting will be remembered for the host's discourtesy.

The meeting of the Foreign Ministers of SCO member states has always been a very significant event held before the Head of State/Prime Ministers Summit. India being the host of the event this year could have utilised this opportunity to earn respect among SCO members by following the basic courtesy a host must show. However, India made the whole event bitter by launching a massive campaign against Pakistan, China, and CPEC - just to gain domestic mileage.

The post-event press conference of India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar would be remembered for how India treated its guests in Goa. As if allegations of terrorism against Pakistan were not enough to satisfy Indian domestic demands, Jaishankar accused China of being an 'expansionist' and called CPEC an encroachment on Indian sovereign land. Since no country can raise bilateral conflicts at any of the SCO platforms, India did it outside the meeting and the Indian Foreign Office aligned with Indian media to abuse China and Pakistan.

The FMs meeting is a vital forum to finalise the agenda of the meeting of the Heads of State/PMs of the SCO Summit. The bad taste coming out of the meeting indicates that India wants to keep away Pakistan and maybe China from the Head of State/PMs Summit to be held in July 2023. I believe that Pakistan must not follow what India wants and PM Shehbaz Sharif must attend the forthcoming summit.

According to the SCO custom, the host country proposes the agenda in the light of recommendations of the previous SCO Summit, and member countries after deliberations agree upon the proposed agenda. However, nothing has yet to come out officially about the final SCO agenda for the July meeting where regional security, economic cooperation, peace, regional stability and Afghanistan would be on the final agenda.

Whatever happened before, during and after the Foreign Ministers meeting surely confirms India's innate urge for maneuverability, and this can send a negative signal among member countries especially the founding members, China and Russia. With this desire for deep maneuverability, India is proposing SCO reforming agenda and wants to steer SCO just like SAARC. Remember the Indian hegemony has made SAARC practically dysfunctional.

I was closely...