New Delhi:Global and regional terror featured in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vocabulary again on Tuesday when he used the SCO Summit as a platform to unequivocally condemn a member country, which, he said, sided with terror without naming Pakistan.
Prime Minister's veiled dig was directed at Pakistan, which, according to him, is playing a negative role when there is a renewed emphasis on bettering lives of people of member nations through opening of newer avenues of economic growth and enhancing regional cooperation.
Pakistan Prime Minister Sehbaz Sharif, who attended the summit, had no choice but to silently listen to PM Modi, who kept on targeting Pakistan without naming the country. "There should not be any doublespeak on terrorism, which is a threat to regional and global peace. We will have to fight against terrorism...Some countries use cross-border terrorism as an instrument of their policies and give shelter to terrorists. SCO should not hesitate to criticize such countries. SCO countries should condemn it. There should be no double standards on terrorism," he said.
PM Modi called on member states to unitedly fight terrorism and not hesitate to condemn countries that support terror. “Some countries use cross-border terrorism as an instrument in sync with their policy,” Prime Minister Modi said.
He also spoke about India's role as a peacemaker. "India's concerns and expectations regarding Afghanistan are the same as most of the SCO Member countries. We have to make united efforts for the welfare of the people of Afghanistan...It is important that the land of Afghanistan is not used to spread unrest in neighbouring nations or promote extremist ideologies," PM Modi added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was one of the prominent leaders who attended the meeting, also echoed PM Modi. Speaking at the summit, Putin said that the priority of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation must be counter-terrorism, counter radicalism, extremism and to counter drug trafficking.
In his opening remarks, Modi spoke about the situation in Afghanistan, and said, "The situation in Afghanistan has had a direct impact on the security of all of us (countries). India's concerns and expectations regarding Afghanistan are the same as most of the SCO Member countries". He further said that Afghanistan's soil should not be allowed to be used to destabilise its neighborhood. PM Modi also urged the member states to work for the welfare of Afghanistan and provide humanitarian aid to the nation.
Prime Minister Modi reiterated that India has established five pillars of cooperation within the SCO: Startup and innovation, traditional medicine, youth empowerment, digital inclusion, and shared Buddhist heritage.
"As Chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), India has made sustained efforts to take our multi-faceted cooperation to new heights,” the PM further said. The SCO summit was attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and others. PM Modi also pointed out that India’s thousands of years old people-to-people ties with the Eurasia region are living testimony to the shared heritage.
“Over the past two decades, the SCO has emerged as an important platform for peace, prosperity, and development in the entire Eurasia region,” he added. He said India supports the proposal of reform and modernisation of the SCO. Prime Minister Modi welcomed the signing of the Memorandum of Obligation for the SCO membership of Belarus. He further welcomed Iran for joining as a new member of SCO.
India's role in SCO
India’s association with SCO began in 2005 as an observer country. India became a full Member State of SCO at the Astana Summit in 2017, a historic moment in India’s engagement with the Organisation. In the past 6 years, India has played a very active and constructive role in all spheres of activities of SCO. On September 2022, India for the first time, took over the presidency of SCO from Uzbekistan at the Samarkand Summit of SCO.
