Prime Minister Imran Khan and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are likely to come to face-to-face at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit scheduled to be held later this year in India,

SCO Secretary General Vladimir Norov announced on Monday that India would be hosting the summit this year. The event will bring together leaders from India, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Separately, Russia will host a meeting of the heads of state of SCO countries in July, but “this year for the first time India is chairing one of the main SCO bodies, the council of heads of government and prime ministers of the organisation’s member states,” Norov said on Monday.

“The member states have highly appreciated India’s willingness to host the meeting of prime ministers in autumn 2020,” he added. India and Pakistan joined the SCO as full members in 2017.

It is not immediately clear whether Pakistan will accept the Indian invite to the meeting, or whether the SCO summit would play a part in the start of thaw in the relations of the two countries who have been at loggerheads since India scrapped the special status of occupied Kashmir on August 5, 2019.

Earlier this month, PM Imran severely criticised India’s move occupied Kashmir, slamming the Modi-led government by saying that India’s fascist regime was engaging in violence while the world remained silent.

“How long will the world remain silent while the fascist extremist Modi regime indulges in state terrorism?” he said.

During the last SCO summit in Kyrgyzstan, member states had condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

Member states had urged the international community to strengthen global cooperation in efforts against terrorism under the UN’s central role by fully implementing the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, “in line with the UN Charter and the principles of international law, without politicisation and double standards”, while respecting the sovereignty and independence of all states.

They also urged the international community to press for consensus regarding the adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.