Pahalgam attack ‘deliberately conducted’ to undermine tourism, sow religious divide: Jaishankar in China

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) needs to remain true to its founding objective of combating terrorism and extremism and take an “uncompromising" position on combating the challenges, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said at a conclave of the grouping on Tuesday while strongly justifying India’s response to the Pahalgam terror attack.

With his counterparts from Pakistan, China and other SCO member nations listening, Jaishankar said the Pahalgam attack was “deliberately conducted" to undermine the tourism economy of Jammu and Kashmir and sow a religious divide, asserting that India will remain firm in its response to confront terrorism.

In an address at the SCO foreign ministers’ meeting in this Chinese city, Jaishankar said India will continue to positively approach new ideas and proposals, asserting that such cooperation must be based on “mutual respect", “sovereign equality" and in accordance with “territorial integrity and sovereignty" of member states.

His remarks came against the backdrop of growing global criticism of China’s mega connectivity project — the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) — on the grounds that it showed disregard for the sovereignty of the nations and lacked transparency.

The external affairs minister’s comments calling for SCO to adopt an “uncompromising" position to combat terrorism amid some disquiet in New Delhi over Beijing’s tacit support to Islamabad during Operation Sindoor as well as instances of China blocking efforts at the UN Security Council to sanction Pakistan-based terrorists.

In his address, Jaishankar also flagged concerns over “conflicts, competition and coercion" as well as economic instability and underlined the need to stabilise the global order and address longstanding challenges that “threaten our collective interests".

The major focus of the external affairs minister’s address was his call to effectively deal with terrorism.

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