“One Country Wanted No Reference to Terror”: Jaishankar Backs Rajnath Singh’s Move at SCO

“One Country Wanted No Reference to Terror”: External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Friday backed Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s decision not to sign the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) joint statement. Singh is in Qingdao, China and refused to sign the statement as it didn’t mention terrorism—a key issue for India and a stated objective of the SCO

"When the main purpose of the organisation is to fight terrorism, and you are not allowing a reference to that, he (Rajnath Singh) expressed his unwillingness to accept…" Jaishankar was quoted by the news

While Jaishankar did not name the country that did not want a reference to terrorism in the outcome statement, he said “you can guess which one”, in a veiled jibe at Pakistan.

Besides India, the SCO member countries are Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Belarus. India became a member of the SCO in 2017 and is the current Chair of the organisation.

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“SCO runs with unanimity. So Rajnath ji clearly said that if there is no mention of terrorism in the statement, we will not sign it,” Jaishankar added.

Rajnath Singh, who is in Qingdao, refused to sign the joint statement on Thursday, citing that it didn’t address terrorism related concerns, specifically the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which killed 26 people, mostly tourists.

While the joint statement didn’t mention the Pahalgam attack, it did mention the Jaffar Express hijacking in Pakistan by the Balochistan Liberation Army on March 11.

With Rajnath Singh’s move, the SCO defence ministers’ meeting couldn’t issue a joint communique.

According to reports, Pakistan’s push to have the Balochistan incident included in the communique was to blame India.

In China, Rajnath Singh called for the "perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors" of terrorism to be held accountable, also jabbed Pakistan for backing terrorist groups.

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"Some countries use cross-border terrorism as an instrument of policy and provide shelter to terrorists. There should be no place for such double standards. The SCO should not hesitate to criticise such nations," Rajnath Singh said at the conclave in Qingdao.

Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun were present.

Rajnath Singh also praised India’s Operation Sindoor, the military operation targeting terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, launched in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.

"The pattern of the Pahalgam attack matches with LeT's previous terror attacks in India. India's zero tolerance for terrorism was demonstrated through its actions," he said.

Not only did the draft SCO statement not mention the Pahalgam terror attack, but it also didn’t talk about India’s tough anti-terrorism stance as reported on Thursday.

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