India invites Pakistan’s culture minister to SCO forum in Delhi

India has invited Pakistan’s Minister for National Heritage and Culture, Aurungzeb Khan Khichi, to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s first Civilisational Dialogue Forum in Delhi, The Hindu reported on October 27, citing sources. The forum is scheduled to begin on November 20. The invitation creates a possible ministerial visit amid strained relations, but Pakistan has not confirmed who will lead its delegation.

The invitation is part of a wider gathering of SCO members and partner countries. The Indian Express reported that India was obliged to invite representatives from every member state because it had proposed hosting the forum. That multilateral setting matters: India and Pakistan have continued to engage through the SCO while their bilateral ties have remained frozen, according to the newspaper.

Who is invited to the Delhi SCO forum

The Hindu and The New Indian Express give November 20–22 as the forum dates; The Indian Express gives November 20–21. The reported end date therefore differs, while all three accounts place the start on November 20.

Why the invitation matters for India and Pakistan

If Khichi attends, he would be the first Pakistani minister hosted by India since then foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto travelled to Goa for an SCO meeting in 2023, The Hindu reported. It would also be the first such visit since the four-day India–Pakistan conflict in May 2025. The invitation alone does not establish that Khichi will travel: both The Hindu and The New Indian Express reported that Pakistan had yet to confirm its delegation leader.

Modi proposed the civilisational dialogue at the SCO leaders’ summit in Tianjin in 2025, and the SCO Council adopted the proposal, The Hindu reported. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced on October 20, 2026, at an SCO meeting in Dushanbe that India would host it, according to The Indian Express. The newspaper described the forum’s aims as cultural engagement, stronger ties between people across member states, and a showcase of shared heritage, art and literature.

SCO contact between the neighbours has continued ahead of the forum. The Indian Express reported that India’s SCO national coordinator, Alok Dimri, visited Islamabad in September 2026 for a coordination meeting ahead of Pakistan’s planned presidency and leaders’ summit in 2027. That visit provides a recent precedent for engagement through the regional organisation, while the decision on who represents Pakistan at the Delhi forum remains with Islamabad.