As India refused to endorse a joint declaration at the SCO meeting, citing the exclusion of terrorism concerns., Ministry of External Affairs backhome revealed as to why Defence Minister Rajnath Singh took such a decision.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday revealed that a reference to terrorism—strongly pushed by India—was omitted from the document due to objections from “one particular country”, which blocked the consensus needed for adoption.India wanted terrorism included, but one country objected. India has refused to endorse the joint declaration at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers’ meeting in China, citing the exclusion of concerns around terrorism as a key reason.
At a press briefing, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal confirmed that India could not agree to the final declaration, as it failed to address what New Delhi views as a critical regional challenge—terrorism.“India wanted concerns on terrorism reflected in the document, which was not acceptable to one particular country, and therefore the statement could not be adopted,” Jaiswal said.
“The Defence Minister, in his address, called upon these 11 countries to come together to fight terrorism in all its forms and manifestations… He also reiterated the need to uphold that the perpetrators, organisers, financers, sponsors of reprehensible acts of terrorism, including cross-border terrorism, need to be held accountable and brought to justice,” he added.
Another reason for India’s decision was the fact that the document did not the deadly Pahalgam terror attack that happened on April 22, but included reference to incidents in Pakistan.Randhir Jaiswal further explained that while the two-day defence ministers' meeting in China concluded as scheduled, the final joint statement fell through due to a lack of consensus among member states.Rajnath Singh called this out as double standards on terrorismDuring his address at the SCO meeting, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh strongly reiterated India’s zero-tolerance policy towards terrorism, urging all 11 participating countries to take a united stand.
“The perpetrators, organisers, financers, and sponsors of reprehensible acts of terrorism—including cross-border terrorism—must be held accountable and brought to justice,” he stated.Without naming Pakistan directly, Rajnath Singh condemned the selective application of counter-terrorism standards and made a thinly veiled reference to Islamabad’s track record.“There should be no double standards on terrorism. Peace and prosperity cannot co-exist with terrorism,” Singh added.
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