05-05-2023 : The External Affairs Minister of India, S Jaishankar, gave a strong message against terrorism at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Friday, with the Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in attendance. Jaishankar stated that all forms of terrorism, including cross-border terrorism, must be stopped and that the financing of terrorism should be blocked without distinction. He also emphasized that connectivity between member states should be accompanied by respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Jaishankar emphasized that non-state entities cannot be used as a cover for terrorism, which is a worldwide threat. He emphasized that one of the SCO’s primary missions was to combat terrorism and that neglecting the issue would be detrimental to the group’s security interests. He also discussed the state of affairs in Afghanistan, stating that they continue to focus their attention on the developing situation there.
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, the Pakistani Foreign Minister, spoke about the collective responsibility of member states in ensuring the security of their people and combating terrorism. He urged that terrorism should not be used for diplomatic point-scoring and emphasized that Pakistan is committed to being part of regional and global efforts for eradicating terrorism. Bhutto-Zardari called for practical and pragmatic solutions to put an end to the issue of terrorism once and for all and condemned all forms of terrorism, including state-sponsored terrorism.
The SCO is an influential economic and security bloc that has emerged as one of the largest trans-regional international organizations. It was founded in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became permanent members in 2017. India has been an observer at the SCO since 2005 and has generally participated in the ministerial-level meetings of the grouping, which focus mainly on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region.
The SCO meeting also discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, geo-political upheavals that impacted supplies of energy, food, and fertilizers, and the progress for the admission of Iran and Belarus as full member states of the SCO. Constructive steps are also being taken to make English the third official language of SCO, in addition to Chinese and Russian.