Tianjin (China), July 15 (IANS) Highlighting the dastardly April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar on Tuesday said that it is imperative that the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) should remain true to its founding objectives of tackling terrorism, separatism and extremism and take an uncompromising position on the challenge.
“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 in the terrorist attack in Pahalgam on 22 April 2025. It was deliberately conducted to undermine the tourism economy of Jammu and Kashmir, while sowing a religious divide,” said EAM Jaishankar while addressing the gathering – which also included Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar – at the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers Meeting in China’s Tianjin.
“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’. 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 added.
In his address, EAM Jaishankar spotlighted that the meeting is taking place at a time of “considerable disorder” in the international system.
“In the last few years, we have seen more conflicts, competition and coercion. Economic instability is also visibly on the rise. The challenge before us is to stabilize the global order, de-risk various dimensions and through it all, address longstanding challenges that threaten our collective interests,” he said.
India, he mentioned, has taken several initiatives in the SCO in 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. It is essential that such cooperation is based on mutual respect, sovereign equality and in accordance with territorial integrity and sovereignty of member states,” the EAM stated.
To deepen collaboration within the SCO, EAM Jaishankar reckoned that there should be more trade, investment and exchanges.
“For that to move to the next level, it is imperative that we address some current issues. 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). We are confident that it will continue to gather momentum,” he said.
India, which has always expressed its readiness to respond to the urgent developmental needs of the Afghan people, also continued to bat for the need for development activities in the war-torn region.
“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. The international community, particularly SCO members, must therefore step up with development assistance. India, for its part, will certainly do so,” remarked EAM Jaishankar.
Having highlighted in the past that the contours of multipolarity are more visible now than ever before, the External Affairs Minister underlined the importance of cooperation and coordination amongst countries of the region.
“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. Our ability to contribute to the shaping of world affairs will naturally depend on how well we come together on a shared agenda. That means taking everybody on board,” he concluded.
–IANS
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