Need to root out terrorism collectively and fix accountability on its supporters: Rajnath Singh at SCO summit

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said support to terrorists in any form is a crime against humanity and terrorism needs to be rooted out with its supporters held accountable without naming Pakistan, which is often being accused of providing underhand backing to radicalised non-state actors for bleeding India.

“If a nation shelters terrorists, it not only poses a threat to others, but for itself too. Radicalisation of youth is a cause of concern not only from the point of view of security, but it is also a major obstacle in the path of socio-economic progress of society,” Singh said chairing a conclave of Defence Ministers from the member countries of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

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Calling upon the SCO member states to collectively work towards eliminating terrorism in all its forms and fix accountability on those who aid or fund such activities, he said if the regional grouping had to emerge as a stronger and more credible organisation, the top most priority of the member states should be to effectively deal with terrorism.

Pakistan's Defence Minister didn’t attend the meeting, but Malik Ahmed Khan, Special advisor to the Prime Minister on Defence spoke through video conferencing.

Addressing media persons after the meeting, Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane said all the member nations arrived at a consensus on several areas of cooperation including dealing with terrorism and security of the vulnerable populations. “The extra-territorial terrorist activities like smuggling and narcotics will also be acted upon," he said.

In a veiled reference to China, the minister said India envisioned a robust framework of regional cooperation which “mutually respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all member states by taking care of their legitimate interests”.

With Chinese defence minister Li Shangfu listening, Singh also said New Delhi strove to further bolster trust and cooperation among the members of the grouping as it believed in maintaining peace and security based on the provisions of the UN charter.

New Delhi hosted the meeting in its capacity as chair of the grouping. Singh also had a series of bilateral meetings with the defence ministers of the SCO member countries on the sidelines of the summit.

An influential economic and security bloc, SCO has emerged as one of the largest trans-regional international organisations. It was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became permanent members in 2017.

SCO Foreign Ministers will meet at Goa in the first week of May for which Islamabad has confirmed the participation of Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.