With just a week to go for the SCO Civilisational Dialogue Forum to be held in New Delhi, there has been no word from Islamabad on its participation, even as 15 of the 25 invited countries — including China, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Iran — have confirmed their participation.Meanwhile, as Pakistan has recently been invoking the Indus Valley Civilisation in the wake of India putting the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, New Delhi intends to offer all visiting delegates from SCO countries a lowdown of its 5,000-year civilisational history by holding the three-day event at the Purana Qila monument, and taking them through the excavated site, unravelling layers of the Capital’s history.When asked about this, Union Culture Minister Gajendra Shekhawat said, “When a country tries to talk about 5,000 years of Indus Valley Civilisation, they should be self-aware that they didn’t exist at the time. Their story is just 80 years old.”The inaugural edition of the forum will be held between November 20 and 22, to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is being organised jointly by the ministries of Culture and External Affairs. Shekhawat said all SCO member countries, partner countries, and observer countries have been invited. However, the window is still open for the remaining countries to send their representatives for participation, he said.India has invited Pakistan’s national heritage and Culture Minister Aurangzeb Khan Khichi for the event, the first such invitation extended by New Delhi to a senior minister of Pakistan ever since the military hostilities between the two countries in the wake of Operation Sindoor in May 2025 following the Pahalgam terror attack.China, Kazakhstan, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bahrain, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Sri Lanka have confirmed their participation. While the Prime Minister will attend the inaugural ceremony on November 20, four key sessions will be held the following days, themed around civilisational and cultural expression, art and architecture, and language, literature and manuscripts, the minister said.Shekhawat said India’s aim was to ensure that the SCO was not merely a geopolitical and economic platform but also a forum for shared civilisational heritage and human values. He asserted that culture has the power to initiate dialogues and build bridges of trust between countries and civilisations.Story continues below this adShekhawat said he remained “hopeful” that Pakistan would also confirm its participation in the coming days. “Pakistan’s civilisation and cultural development is no different from ours. It has been less than 80 years since they separated from us; otherwise, their evolution happened alongside ours. Therefore, at least on this subject, there is no possibility whatsoever of us having any kind of differences,” he noted.The civilisational dialogue was first proposed by Prime Minister Modi during the SCO Heads of State summit in Tianjin in September 2025. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh formally announced that India would host the event while addressing the 25th SCO council of Heads of Government meeting in Tajikistan last month.The key goals are to strengthen people-to-people ties and cultural engagement across Eurasian member states, and showcase the shared heritage, art, literature and traditions of ancient civilisations. Officials said the first edition will chart out a roadmap and framework for the upcoming editions.Meanwhile, the SCO countries will also deliberate on filing joint nominations for UNESCO heritage lists owing to their cultural exchanges and influences over centuries, officials said.