New Delhi, Oct. 27 -- India has invited Pakistan's National Heritage and Culture Minister Aurangzeb Khan Khichi to a regional cultural forum in New Delhi next month, opening the possibility of the first visit by a Pakistani minister since the military confrontation of May 2025. The invitation, extended for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's (SCO) first Civilisational Dialogue Forum from November 20 to 22, comes as New Delhi keeps bilateral ties with Islamabad on hold but continues to engage with its neighbour through multilateral platforms. Pakistan has yet to confirm who will head its delegation.
If Khichi attends, his visit will be the first by a Pakistani minister to India since then Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto travelled to Goa for an SCO meeting in May 2023. It would also mark the first ministerial engagement hosted by India since the four-day military conflict in May 2025, which followed the Pahalgam terror attack and India's Operation Sindoor.
The invitation does not signal a change in India's bilateral policy towards Pakistan. Rather, it reflects New Delhi's role as host of an initiative involving all 10 SCO members, including countries with which India has difficult relations. Formal bilateral ties have remained largely frozen since the Pathankot and Uri terror attacks in 2016, even as both countries continue to participate in the same regional grouping.
The forum will be held at Purana Quila, the 16th-century fort built by Mughal emperor Humayun, and inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He proposed the initiative at the SCO Council of Heads of State summit in Tianjin, China, in September 2025. The proposal was subsequently adopted by the grouping, with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announcing India's plans to host the event at an SCO government heads' meeting in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on October 20, 2026.
Organised by the Ministries of Culture and External Affairs, the gathering will include culture ministers and representatives from member states, as well as participants from 15 dialogue partner and observer countries. The programme is intended to bring regional countries together through their shared histories, artistic traditions and cultural practices. Purana Quila offers a setting closely linked to that objective. Archaeological excavations at the site have revealed evidence of settlements spanning nearly 3,000 years, with remains associated with periods from the pre-Mauryan and Mauryan eras to the Gupta, Sultanate and Mughal periods. Delegations will discuss four themes: monastic trails and religious and philosophical traditions; art and architecture; languages, literature, scripts and manuscripts; and living cultural expressions. Each participating country has been invited to nominate its culture minister and up to four officials, scholars, experts or cultural heritage professionals.
The diplomatic engagement surrounding the forum has already begun. In September, India sent its SCO national coordinator, Alok Dimri, to Islamabad for a meeting related to Pakistan's presidency of the organisation and preparations for the next leaders' summit. It was the first Indian delegation visit to an SCO meeting in Pakistan in nearly two years. Dimri discussed connectivity, transit and trade during the visit, describing the organisation as a platform bringing together countries across the Eurasian and Asian landmass. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had last represented India at an SCO Council of Heads of Government meeting in Islamabad in October 2024.
Pakistan is due to host the next SCO leaders' summit in August 2027, leaving open the question of India's representation. New Delhi has previously maintained that its participation in the organisation should be distinguished from its bilateral relations with individual members. The cultural forum will place that distinction in focus once again. Whether Pakistan sends its minister or another representative, the meeting will test how far the two neighbours can continue their multilateral engagement while their direct political relationship remains strained.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.