Officials announced on Thursday that marriage halls, restaurants, and cafes in Rawalpindi and Islamabad will be closed for five days, from October 12 to 16, as part of heightened security measures for the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. The summit is scheduled to take place in Islamabad on October 15-16.
The SCO meeting will bring together representatives from its nine full member countries, including China, India, Iran, and Russia. Chinese Premier Li Qiang is expected to arrive in Islamabad ahead of the summit.
In preparation for the event, police have issued notices to traders and hotel owners, warning that any violations of the closure order will result in penalties. To facilitate the smooth conduct of the summit, the government has declared a three-day public holiday from October 14-16 in the twin cities.
Pakistan, which became a full member of the SCO in June 2017 after serving as an Observer State from 2005 to 2017, will host the summit under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. As the current chair of the Council of Heads of Government (CHG), the second-highest decision-making body of the SCO, Prime Minister Sharif will preside over the meeting.
India will be represented by its Minister for External Affairs, S. Jaishankar, instead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as confirmed by the Foreign Office. However, no bilateral meetings are planned during his visit to Pakistan.
