Tianjin (China): The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) needs to remain true to its founding objective of combating terrorism and extremism and take an “uncompromising” position on combating the challenges, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said at a conclave of the grouping on Tuesday while strongly justifying India’s response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
With his counterparts from Pakistan, China and other SCO member nations listening, Jaishankar said the Pahalgam attack was “deliberately conducted” to undermine the tourism economy of Jammu and Kashmir and sow a religious divide, asserting that India will remain firm in its response to confront terrorism.
In an address at the SCO foreign ministers meeting in this Chinese city, Jaishankar said India will continue to positively approach new ideas and proposals, asserting that such cooperation must be based on “mutual respect”, “sovereign equality” and in accordance with “territorial integrity and sovereignty” of member states.
His remarks came against the backdrop of growing global criticism of China’s mega connectivity project — the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) — on the ground that it showed disregard for the sovereignty of the nations and lacked transparency.
The external affairs minister’s comments calling for SCO to adopt an “uncompromising” position to combat terrorism amid some disquiet in New Delhi over Beijing’s tacit support to Islamabad during Operation Sindoor as well as instances of China blocking efforts at the UN Security Council to sanction Pakistan-based terrorists.
In his address, Jaishankar also flagged concerns over “conflicts, competition and coercion” as well as economic instability and underlined the need to stabilise the global order and address longstanding challenges that “threaten our collective interests”.
The major focus of the external affairs minister’s address was his call to effectively deal with terrorism.
Jaishankar said the UN Security Council condemned the attack and underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of the reprehensible act and bring them to justice.
The external affairs minister said India has done “exactly that” and it will continue doing so.
“The three evils that SCO was founded to combat were terrorism, separatism and extremism. Not surprisingly, they often occur together. Recently, we in India witnessed a graphic example of the terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22,” Jaishankar said.
“The UN Security Council, of which some of us are currently members, issued a statement that condemned it in the strongest terms and ‘underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of this reprehensible act of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice’,” he said.
“We have since done exactly that and will continue doing so. It is imperative that the SCO, to remain true to its founding objectives, take an uncompromising position on this challenge,” he said.
The external affairs minister also listed India’s initiatives in the SCO in various domains ranging from startup and innovation to traditional medicine and digital public infrastructure.
“We will continue to positively approach new ideas and proposals that are genuinely for our collective good,” he said.
“It is essential that such cooperation is based on mutual respect, sovereign equality and in accordance with territorial integrity and sovereignty of member states,” he asserted.
Delving into the current geopolitical situation, Jaishankar called for concerted efforts to deal with the challenges. “We meet at a time of considerable disorder in the international system. In the last few years, we have seen more conflicts, competition and coercion,” he said.
“Economic instability is also visibly on the rise. The challenge before us is to stabilise the global order, de-risk various dimensions and through it all, address longstanding challenges that threaten our collective interests,” he added.
Jaishankar argued that the SCO’s ability to contribute to the shaping of world affairs will naturally depend on how well it comes together on a shared agenda. “That means taking everybody on board.”
“The world is today moving towards greater multi-polarity. This is not just in terms of redistribution of national capacities, but also the emergence of effective groupings like SCO,” he said.
The external affairs minister urged the grouping to step up development assistance to Afghanistan.
“Afghanistan has been long on the SCO agenda. The compulsions of regional stability are buttressed by our longstanding concern for the well-being of the Afghan people,” he said.
“The international community, particularly SCO members, must therefore step up with development assistance. India, for its part, will certainly do so,” he noted.
Jaishankar also called for improving transit facilities as well as connectivity among SCO member states.
“Deepening collaboration within the SCO naturally requires more trade, investment and exchanges. For that to move to the next level, it is imperative that we address some current issues,” he observed.
“One of them is the lack of assured transit within the SCO space. Its absence undermines the seriousness of advocating cooperation in economic areas. Another is to ensure the promotion of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC),” he said.
“We are confident that it will continue to gather momentum,” he added.
The INSTC is a 7,200-km-long multi-mode transport project for moving freight among India, Iran, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe. India has been supporting the project.
