Will bring Pahalgam attackers to justice: External affairs minister S Jaishankar at SCO
The Pahalgam terrorist attack was deliberately conducted to undermine Jammu & Kashmir's tourism economy and sow a religious divide, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers' meeting in China's Tianjin, even as his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar looked on.
Recalling the strong condemnation of the April 22 attack by UNSC, where China is a permanent and Pakistan non-permanent member, Jaishankar called upon the Eurasian bloc to take an uncompromising position on terror and stressed that India would continue to work to bring the perpetrators of the J&K attack to justice.
India presses for strong rebuke on terror, Pahalgam in SCO declaration | page 22
While raising the issue of the Pahalgam terror attack at the SCO foreign ministers' meeting in China on Tuesday, S Jaishankar did not name Pakistan as the bloc's charter prohibits member-states from raising hostilities in bilateral relations.
However, like in his address at the same meeting in Islamabad last year, he reminded his counterparts that the bloc was founded to combat the three evils of 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 April 22. It was deliberately conducted to undermine tourism economy of Jammu & Kashmir, while sowing a religious divide," Jaishankar said.
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He also said while India would continue to approach new ideas and proposals by SCO positively for "collective good", such cooperation must be based on mutual respect, sovereign equality and in accordance with territorial integrity and sovereignty of member states.
The foreign ministers' meeting looked to finalise the agenda, including the final declaration, for the SCO summit that will be hosted by President Xi Jinping in Sept and in which PM Modi is expected to participate.
India is pressing for a strong condemnation of terrorism in the declaration, including the Pahalgam attack.
"UNSC, of which some of us are currently members, issued a statement that condemned it in 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 SCO, to remain true to its founding objectives, take an uncompromising position on this challenge," the minister added.
In a bilateral meet with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Monday, EAM had described terrorism as a shared concern, expressing hope that SCO will strongly uphold zero tolerance against terrorism. Combating terrorism and ensuring a terror-free Afghanistan tops India's priority list in the security-oriented group that is looking to expand cooperation in areas like trade, investment & people-to-people exchanges.
On Afghanistan, Jaishankar said it had been long on the SCO agenda and the compulsions of regional stability were buttressed by India's long-standing 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," he said.
The minister lamented lack of assured transit within the SCO space, saying its absence undermines the seriousness of advocating cooperation in economic areas.
This again was a dig at Pakistan which continues to block land access to Afghanistan and Central Asia for India.
While talking about a world besieged by conflicts, competition and coercion, Jaishankar said the challenge before SCO is to stabilise the global order, de-risk various dimensions and "through it all, address long-standing challenges that threaten our collective interests".
"World is moving towards multi-polarity. This is not just in terms of redistribution of national capacities, but also emergence of effective groupings like SCO. Our ability to contribute to shaping of world affairs will depend on how well we come together on a shared agenda. That means taking everybody on board," he added.
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