SCO Summit : Rajnath Singh Refuses To Sign SCO Document, India Foils China-Pakistan Plan To Shield Terror At SCO

New Delhi : Defence Minister Rajnath Singh refused to sign the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) document that would have diluted India’s stand on terrorism and the Pahalgam terror attack, which left 26 dead, sources said. The SCO Summit, held in Qingdao, China, saw the Indian and Pakistani defence ministers come face-to-face for the first time since the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor. The chill was evident as no pleasantries were exchanged with the Pakistani Defence Minister at the meeting, sources said.

Rajnath Singh said that Operation Sindoor was a series of pre-emptive strikes, launched on May 7, in a bid to deter further cross-border terrorist attacks and dismantle cross-border terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan. Taking a direct dig at Pakistan, Rajnath Singh said, some countries use cross-border terrorism as an instrument of policy and provide shelter to terrorists.

The Defence Minister said that the SCO grouping should seek to counter the technology used by terrorists including drones for cross-border smuggling of weapons and drugs . Singh’s comments came weeks after the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on 22 April, in which 26 innocent people, mostly tourists, were killed by Pakistan-backed terrorists. The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy group of the UN-designated terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), had claimed the responsibility for the attack. Singh said the victims were profiled and killed based on their religious identity.

Rajnath Singh also highlighted a host of actions taken by India to show zero tolerance for terrorism. We have shown that epicentres of terrorism are no longer safe, and we will not hesitate to target them, he said. We should also take proactive steps to prevent the spread of radicalisation among our youth.

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