Can the China-backed SCO convince India and Pakistan to resolve their differences?

One of the big hurdles is Beijing’s close ties to Islamabad, analysts say

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The SCO meeting of defence ministers was a rare opportunity for cabinet ministers from India and Pakistan to be in the same room. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:00pm, 18 Jul 2025Updated: 9:03pm, 18 Jul 2025

The meeting in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao last month was the first time that cabinet ministers from Pakistan and India had been in the same room since a deadly conflict in early May.

The defence ministers from the two neighbours were in China under the umbrella of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a regional political, security and economic group. This week it was the turn of SCO foreign ministers, who met in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin.

It, too, was a rare chance for Indian and Pakistani officials to come together – if only in a group setting.

The two countries have been engaged in an uneasy truce since a terrorist attack in the Indian-administered resort town of Kashmir killed 26 tourists escalated into several days of heavy cross-border military fire. New Delhi blamed Islamabad-backed militants for the attack, accusations Pakistan denied.

While there was no apparent bilateral engagement this week, the foreign ministers of both countries used the SCO platform to state their claims on the conflict.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar cited the April attack as “a graphic example of terrorism”, pointing the finger at Islamabad.

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