Rajnath Singh lashes out at Pak in SCO meet: 'Operation Sindoor showed epicentres of terrorism no longer safe’

 

 

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh lashed out at Pakistan during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers’ Meeting in China on Thursday and said "nations sheltering terrorists" must be criticised.

 

Addressing the two-day meeting of defence ministers from SCO countries in Qingdao, China, Singh, targeting Pakistan, charged some nations are using cross-border terrorism as a policy tool. "Some countries use cross-border terrorism as an instrument of policy and provide shelter to terrorists. There should be no place for such double standards. SCO should not hesitate to criticise such nations, " said Singh. 

 

Apprising the SCO on the Pahalgam terror attack, Singh said The Resistance Front, a proxy of Lashkar-e-Taiba has claimed responsibility for the gruesome attack in which 26 persons were killed. "The Resistance Front carried out a dastardly and heinous attack on innocent tourists at Pahalgam in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. 26 innocent civilians, including a Nepali national, were killed. Victims were shot at after they were profiled based on religious identity," the defence minister said. 

 

The defence minister added the pattern of the Pahalgam terror attack matched with LeT’s previous terror attacks in India. "In exercising its right to defend against terrorism and pre-empt as well as deter further cross-border terrorist attacks, India, May 7, successfully launched Operation Sindoor to dismantle cross-border terrorist infrastructure," he said.

 

 

The defence minister added peace, security and trust deficit were the biggest challenges the region was facing. "The root cause of these problems is increasing radicalisation, extremism and terrorism. Peace and prosperity cannot co-exist with terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of non-state actors and terror groups," the defence minister said. Singh added member nations must unite in the fight against these evils for the region's collective safety and security.

 

 

Besides India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Belarus are members of SCO. China has assumed the Chair of the SCO for 2025 under the theme ‘Upholding the Shanghai Spirit: SCO on the Move’.

India