SCO must take 'uncompromising' position on combating terrorism: EAM Jaishankar

New Indian Express

9 hours ago

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 in 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.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terrorist infrastructure in territories controlled by Pakistan in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
The strikes triggered four days of intense clashes that ended with an understanding on stopping the military actions on May 10.
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 stabilize the global order, de-risk various dimensions and through it all, address longstanding challenges that threaten our collective interests," he added.