NEW DELHI: The Pahalgam terrorist attack was deliberately conducted to undermine the tourism economy of J&K and sow a religious divide, said external affairs minister S Jaishankar at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers’ meeting in Tianjin, as his Pakistan counterpart Ishaq Dar looked on.
The minister also said that while India will continue to approach new ideas and proposals by the 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.
Recalling the strong condemnation of the April 22 attack by the UN Security Council (UNSC) – where China is a permanent and Pakistan non-permanent member – the minister called upon the Eurasian bloc to take an uncompromising position on terrorism and stressed India will continue to work to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice.
Jaishankar did not name Pakistan as the SCO Charter prohibits member-states from raising hostilities in bilateral relations but, like in his address at the same meeting in Islamabad last year, reminded his counterparts that the Organisation was founded to combat the 3 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 22 April 2025. It was deliberately conducted to undermine the tourism economy of Jammu and Kashmir, while sowing a religious divide,’’ said Jaishankar.
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 September and in which PM Narendra Modi is expected to participate too. India is pressing for a strong condemnation of terrorism in the declaration, including the Pahalgam attack.
“The UNSC, 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, organizers, 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,’’ added the minister.
In a bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Monday, Jaishankar 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, connectivity and 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 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,” he said.
The minister also lamented the 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 that the challenge before SCO is to stabilize the global order, de-risk various dimensions and “through it all, address longstanding challenges that threaten our collective interests”.
“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,” said Jaishankar.
The minister also said that while India will continue to approach new ideas and proposals by the 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.
Recalling the strong condemnation of the April 22 attack by the UN Security Council (UNSC) – where China is a permanent and Pakistan non-permanent member – the minister called upon the Eurasian bloc to take an uncompromising position on terrorism and stressed India will continue to work to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice.
Jaishankar did not name Pakistan as the SCO Charter prohibits member-states from raising hostilities in bilateral relations but, like in his address at the same meeting in Islamabad last year, reminded his counterparts that the Organisation was founded to combat the 3 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 22 April 2025. It was deliberately conducted to undermine the tourism economy of Jammu and Kashmir, while sowing a religious divide,’’ said Jaishankar.
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 September and in which PM Narendra Modi is expected to participate too. India is pressing for a strong condemnation of terrorism in the declaration, including the Pahalgam attack.
“The UNSC, 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, organizers, 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,’’ added the minister.
In a bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Monday, Jaishankar 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, connectivity and 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 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,” he said.
The minister also lamented the 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 that the challenge before SCO is to stabilize the global order, de-risk various dimensions and “through it all, address longstanding challenges that threaten our collective interests”.
“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,” said Jaishankar.
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