Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), also known as the “Alliance of the East” was formed in 2001 by China and Russia now they have India, Belarus, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan. Pakistan remained an observer from 2005 till 2017 and formally joined the organization in 2017, along with India joining in the same year as the Observer and later Afghanistan. Russia backed India’s entry into SCO while China backed Pakistan’s entry to SCO. Currently, there are nine full-time Dialogue members and three observers in the summit, mainly it’s a China-Russia Power Play.
The 23rd SCO Summit is taking place in the 2nd most beautiful capital of the World Islamabad Pakistan, on October, 15-16th 2024. Islamabad has been beautifully decorated for the two-day event, with many electric lights, flowers, and screens facing key routes. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will chair the summit, and notable attendees include the Prime Minister of China Li Qiang, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Prime Minister of Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, as well as India’s foreign minister with delegations, and Iran’s vice president and member states also taking part. The Chinese delegation visited Pakistan after around eleven years and the Indian delegation came after nine years.
However, SCO has great potential, because of the two densely populated countries of the World China and India, SCO Countries cover about 40% of the World’s population, they cover 30% of the Global GDP, and they also possess 20% of the World’s oil reserves. That’s why the group holds significant global importance, especially to the World’s superpowers like the USA and UK, etc. Right after the formation of the SCO, and its subsequent expansion, the World saw it as an alliance. Another reason is to make a security bond among Asian countries and showcase geopolitical stability in front of the world. One of the core reasons for establishing SCO as an alternative alliance to ‘counterbalance’ NATO and a precursor of the Bricks summit. This summit brings together leaders from member states to address issues faced by East Asian Countries such as regional security, international Banking, economic cooperation, the use of the dollar as a reserve, combating terrorism and extremism, Drug trafficking, etc.
But how the SCO countries will achieve these targets? Only if they will sit together to have a productive dialogue to resolve these issues both altogether and separately. Every peaceful negotiation starts with healthy communication. According to the Pakistani Foreign Office, on the sidelines of the meeting, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif will also hold ‘important bilateral meetings’ with the heads of the visiting delegations.
However, not all countries will participate in the one-on-one dialogue. India’s External Affairs Minister, Dr. S.J. Shankar who has always been vocal in presenting an anti-Pakistan agenda, straightforwardly said that Pakistan is a terror exporter, and terror and talk cannot go hand in hand. So, there will be no dialogue with Pakistan on Indo-Pak relations but he is just attending the SCO Summit. Though Pakistan can also say the same that India is a country that perpetuates terrorism and what If we treat India in the same way based on their assumptions? Moreover, the way he treated our foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto last year was very cold; but Pakistan will certainly not do the same.
Pakistan also doesn’t have high hopes for Indian delegates since they never even admitted and realized that we are facing terrorism more than India, also that is coming from India itself. India perpetuates terrorism in uniform as well, Abhinandan Varthaman is a live example in front of the whole world. but India always sounded as if the only country that faced terrorism and as if Pakistan never faced a single attack since 1947.
India and Pakistan also not doing good on trade grounds, they have not had any direct trade for the last five years but have secured only 20 crore dollar trade through other countries’ routes. Pakistan recently started trade with Russia last year and crossed 1 billion dollar, even with Iran being the neighboring Islamic country, Pakistan secured only 35 thousand dollars. But China is certainly the biggest trading partner of Pakistan with a trade of 15 billion dollars. Overall, Pakistan increased its trade with SCO Asian Countries as compared to the previous years but still hardly secured around 50 crore dollars. However, SCO countries did 500-billion-dollar trade in 2023 among each other and Russia and China shared maximum profit; but Pakistan’s input remained only 5% in this ratio.
So, Pakistan wants a regional pitch and is hoping to increase its trade with SCO Countries to boost its struggling economy. It is no secret that Pakistan has a strong geographical position and is the best place as a Regional Transit Hub among all SCO countries; Pakistan can link Russia and Central Asia to Indian Ocean Ports. Especially after CPEC, Pakistan wishes to increase trade routes and to get maximum benefits. Overall, there are some contradictions among SCO countries, like Russia wants SCO as an Anti-western block but India does not want that so Russia and India are not on one page, India and China have differences, India and Pakistan have long-time conflicts, Russia and China have a struggling relationship but still regardless of all these differences, the member countries gathered to make the SCO alive and successful.
