Modi-Shehbaz meeting at SCO unlikely: Pakistan

Islamabad: A meeting between Prime Mini­ster Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Shehbaz Sharif is unlikely during the upcoming SCO Summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on September 15 and 16, Pakistan Foreign Office said.

“No meeting is envisaged with the Indian prime mini­ster,” Foreign Office spokesman Asim Iftikhar told Dawn while responding to query of a sideline meeting at the Shanghai Cooperation Organi­sation (SCO) between the neighbours.

An official, when contacted by Dawn newspaper, said though a brief courtesy meeting between the two was possible, they would not be holding talks.

The official said none of the two sides have sought a meeting.

The foreign office in a statement, however, confirmed that Sharif would attend the 22nd annual Meeting of the Council of Heads of State (CHS) of SCO.

The SCO is a key trans-regional organisation spanning South and Central Asia founded in 2001.