SCO Meeting / Rajnath Singh flatly refused to sign the joint statement in the SCO meeting

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh refused to sign the joint statement raising the issue of terrorism at the SCO meeting held in China. He took a veiled dig at Pakistan and called for decisive action against terrorism without double standards. India objected to the lack of mention of the Pahalgam attack.

SCO Meeting: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday reiterated India's clear and unwavering policy on the issue of terrorism at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting held in Qingdao, China. He refused to sign the SCO joint statement taking a strong stand against terrorism. There was no mention of the terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22 in this statement, in which 26 people lost their lives. India believes that silence on this would have weakened its commitment against terrorism.

Strict comment on Pakistan

Rajnath Singh, in his address, took an indirect dig at Pakistan and said that some countries are working to shelter terrorists and sponsor them for cross-border attacks. He said that it is necessary to hold the culprits of terrorism, their financiers and supporters accountable and "double attitude" should not be adopted in dealing with terrorism.

'Peace and terrorism cannot co-exist'

"The biggest challenges of our region are lack of peace, security and trust. And the root cause of this is radicalism, extremism and terrorism," the Defence Minister said. He stressed that peace and prosperity cannot co-exist with terrorism. He also cautioned that handing over weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups could endanger regional peace.

Demand for decisive action against terror

Rajnath Singh said that elements who are promoting terrorism for their own selfish interests will have to face the consequences. He categorically stated that multilateral forums like the SCO must take a united stand to deal with this threat and should not hesitate to criticise countries showing double standards.

India's policy: Zero tolerance against terrorism

The Defence Minister said that the Pahalgam attack was similar to previous attacks by Lashkar-e-Taiba, which shows that India is still a victim of cross-border terrorism. He said that India's policy is not to tolerate terrorism in any form. He also reiterated India's policy of peace and stability in Afghanistan and said that India is committed to the well-being and stability of the people there.