‘Up to them,’ says MEA on Pakistan joining India’s initiatives at SCO

The choice if whether Pakistan wants to join India’s initiatives at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting is entirely up to them said India's Secretary (West) in MEA - Vikas Swarup.

New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs on Monday said whether Pakistan has to join India’s initiatives at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting, is up to it and backed this with SCO charter’s provision.

Addressing a virtual press briefing following the 19th SCO Council of Heads of Government, Secretary (West) in MEA Vikas Swarup said, “As far as whether Pakistan is going to join the initiatives concern, it is entirely up to them. SCO charter does provide a provision that one country cannot hold up cooperation in areas and allows member countries which are interested to take it forward with the exclusion of one country that is opposing it.”

He reiterated that India considers SCO as an important regional organisation to promote cooperation in the areas of peace, security, trade, economy and culture. “We are committed to deepening our cooperation with SCO by playing a proactive, positive and constructive role in the organization,” the MEA Secretary stated.

“We hope India’s initiatives will not be helpful for SCO member states in overcoming the economic challenges of the pandemic but will also signal our continued commitment to strengthening the organization,” Swarup added.

Swarup further said the SCO charter specifically prohibits bilateral issues from being raised SCO forums.

“We have scrupulously adhered to this provision, we don’t raise bilateral issues in SCO forums and expect other countries to do the same,” he reiterated.

The summit ended with the adoption of the Joint Communique under the Chairmanship of Vice President of India Venkaiah Naidu, the MEA said.

Earlier in the day, India indirectly cornered Pakistan for using terrorism as an instrument of state policy and called for collective efforts to combat the menace during the meeting of the SCO Council of heads of government.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, who chaired the virtual meeting of the SCO, pulled the attack without naming Pakistan in particular and said, “India condemns terrorism in all its manifestations. We remain concerned about threats emerging from ungoverned spaces and are particularly concerned about states that leverage terrorism as an instrument of state policy.”

Naidu also criticised Pakistan for attempting to use SCO to raise bilateral issues, more particularly for raking up Kashmir issue and said this went against the SCO’s charter, which safeguards the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the member states.