The meeting is Pakistan’s chance to shine, especially in front of its neighbor China, to whom it is in hock by several billion dollars and whose nationals are prime targets for armed groups, as well as India, which is sending its foreign minister to the country for the first time since 2015.

Pakistan's capital was under strict security lockdown as Chinese Premier Li Qiang landed in the city on Monday ahead of a heads-of-government gathering of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation this week.