Pakistan joins SCO talks as India's NSA Ajit Doval calls for joint anti-terror effort

Raining the ante against terrorists and their networks, India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval on Tuesday pitched for a three-pronged joint counter-terrorism effort from Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) nations.

The NSA proposed that there should be an algorithm of joint actions against global terror networks, joint counter measures against radicalisation, and joint information operations to counter extremist ideology.

Doval had been addressing a conclave of NSAs (and their equivalents) from member nations of the SCO in Beijing, which included representatives from Pakistan.

Primarily focused on Eurasia, the ten-member multilateral grouping includes India, Russia, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus and Pakistan.

Doval also reiterated that India had fascinating, centuries-old links with each country in the SCO.

In reference to Operation Sindoor, which India has previously stated was in response to the gunning down of 26 civilians in Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22, Doval stated that “India’s actions were measured and non-escalatory”.

In an apparent reference to Pakistan, India’s NSA “highlighted the need to shun double standards in the fight against terrorism and take decisive actions against UN-proscribed terrorists and entities like LeT, JeM and their proxies and dismantle their terror eco-systems”, an official source told THE WEEK.

Calling on SCO members to “hold accountable the perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of acts of cross border terror and to help bring them to justice”, Doval underlined that any act of terror, including cross-border terrorism, is a crime against humanity.

In a separate meeting, Doval and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi both agreed to make 2025—which marks 75 years of establishing diplomatic relations—a year that would be a turning point in regional diplomacy.

Defence