Menon added, “We are in constant touch with each other, we have our High Commission there, they have their High commission here. Both watch each other’s statements very carefully.”

He said it has been clear that Pakistan wants to restart the dialogue, but India has been of the view that it’s necessary that “certain steps” are taken to dismantle the terror infrastructure before talks are resumed.

India, along with Pakistan, Iran and Mongolia, is an observer at SCO, a security grouping where Russia and China run the show with a supporting chorus of Central Asian republics, including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgzstan and Tajikistan.

This will be the first SCO summit in which an Indian Prime Minister will be participating, Menon said.

The SCO had relaxed rules for the participation of observers at its last summit in Dushanbe, Tajikistan where it was decided that the leaders of observer countries could participate in the restricted discussions and share the same table with the leaders of SCO members.