Pakistan on Monday condemned terrorism in all its forms and cautioned against the recent rise in extremist and racist incidents, inspired by neo-Nazism and Islamophobia, during a high-level virtual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation hosted by India.
Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Andleeb Abbas represented Pakistan in the 19th meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO-CHG), held via video conference.
She also underscored the imperative of creating a safe and secure neighborhood, while condemning terrorism in the "disputed territories", in what could be interpreted as an oblique reference towards India and Kashmir.
"Condemning terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including state terrorism inflicted upon people living under foreign occupation in disputed territories, the Parliamentary Secretary cautioned against the recent rise in extremist and racist incidents, inspired by neo-Nazism and Islamophobia," she said.
Earlier, in his address, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu said the most important challenge faced by the region is terrorism, particularly cross-border terrorism. "Terrorism is truly the enemy of humanity. It is a scourge we need to collectively combat. We remain concerned about threats emerging from ungoverned spaces and are particularly concerned about states that leverage terrorism as an instrument of state policy," he said at the virtual meet hosted by India.
"Such an approach is entirely against the spirit and ideals and the charter of the SCO," Naidu said, without naming Pakistan directly in his address.
In another indirect reference to Pakistan, Naidu criticised attempts to bring bilateral issues into the SCO by blatantly violating its well-established principles and norms of charter safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the member states.
China speaks out for counter-terrorism
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Monday made a strong pitch for greater counter-terrorism cooperation among the SCO countries to foster a secure and stable environment for development. In his address at the virtual meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) hosted by India, Li said members of the SCO grouping should actively foster a secure and stable environment for development.
"With uncertainties and destabilising factors growing in the region, we need to work together to uphold regional peace and stability," he said.
Counter-terrorism cooperation figured in the first of the four proposals he put forward for the progress of the eight-member organisation. Joint counter-terrorism exercises must continue to be held in order to forestall sabotages by terrorist, separatist and extremist forces exploiting the pandemic, Li said.
Over the years, the SCO has developed counter terrorism force called Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) which was regarded as one of the organisation's main strengths.
China is concerned about the withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan as it apprehend regrouping of the Uighur militants under separatist East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), an al-Qaeda affiliated outfit active in China's volatile Muslim-majority Xinjiang province which shares borders with countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"We will also cooperate with Afghanistan by making full use of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group to support Afghanistan's national reconciliation process and help it restore stability and development at an early date," Li said.
-Inputs from agencies
