India Officially Enters Islamabad Under Multilateral Framework After Year-and-a-Half Hiatus

India's official entry into Pakistan's capital Islamabad comes a year-and-a-half after Operation Sindoor. But it is entirely under a multilateral framework. Alok Amitabh Dimri, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and India's National Coordinator for the SCO-Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, is leading the Indian delegation at the three-day meeting of the SCO's'Council of National Coordinators '. The meeting began in Islamabad on Monday. This is the first visit by such a high-ranking official since the Pahalgam terror attack and the military confrontation of May 2025. The meeting on September 1 is the first major activity in Pakistan after Pakistan assumed the presidency of the SCO's'Council of Heads of State '. Pakistan formally took over this responsibility from Kyrgyzstan on 1 September and will host the SCO Heads of State Summit in Islamabad in August 2027. Sources in India told Today that India's decision is consistent with its need for a'Line of Actual Control'and'Track Two'for talks.