The China-dominated Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) will have India and Pakistan as its full members when the security bloc holds its annual summit in Kazak capital Astana from Thursday.
It will be the first time that the two South Asian neighbours will be part of a group that seeks security and military cooperation among member countries. It also comes at a time when the already tense ties between the two sides are in a free fall.
The first day of the summit coincides with a hearing at the International Court of Justice where the two countries are battling it out over the death sentence awarded to Indian citizen Kulbhushan Jadhav by a Pakistani military court.
