With terrorism becoming a threat to regional and global peace, the perpetrators, facilitators, financers, and sponsors of heinous act of terrorism need to be identified and punished, External Affairs Minister Subramaniam Jaishankar has said, in a veiled jibe at Pakistan.
In a recent interview with a Kazakh media agency, he also emphasised that the “fight against the three evils-terrorism, separatism and extremism is a priority in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).” The 24th Meeting of the SCO Council Head of States, was held on July 4 in the Kazakh capital Astana under the presidency of Kazakhstan. Jaishankar led the Indian delegation to the Summit. Pakistan’s PM Shahbaz Sharif also attended the Summit.
“There is no doubt that the major challenges faced by the world today is terrorism. It has become a threat to regional as well as global peace, and it demands urgent action from all of us,” he said. “Combating terrorism requires a very comprehensive approach, not just the perpetrators of heinous actions, but the financers, facilitators and sponsors of terrorism, they all need to be identified and punished, Jaishankar said.
The Minister emphasised that he strongly believes that the SCO through Regional-Anti-Terrorists (RATS) has a reasonable standing to propose measures against terrorism in the region. Jaishankar said he is happy that Kazakhstan, during its chair negotiated an updated program to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism, which was adopted at the Astana Summit, according to transcript of the interview shared by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
“During the SCO Summit in New Delhi, the previous year, one of the two joint statements adopted was on ‘Countering Radicalisation Leading to Terrorism, Separatism and Extremism’ which included various elements of radicalisation including ideology, media campaign as well as radical and terrorist content on the internet, he said and added. “Kazakhstan, during the chairmanship carried forward the spirit of that joint statement.”
The update programme to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism is critical and timely But I want to emphasise that what’s more important is the actual implementation of the programme that now we have successfully drawn up, which includes an unambiguous commitment by all members to get rid of all forms and manifestations of terrorism in the region, including cross border terrorism, the minister said.
Speaking about the importance and potential impact of the two significant initiatives, related to terrorism and the SCO Anti-Drug Strategy, adopted at the Astana Summit, Jaishankar said, “Drug Trafficking is a major issue that we have to combat together and is very closely related to the other two issues in the region, terrorism and stability in Afghanistan.
There is a consensus on the establishment of an Anti-Drug Centre in Dushanbe. This is a welcome move and is much needed. The Anti-Drug Centre together with the proposed Universal Centre will be an effective weapon against drug trafficking,” Jaishankar added.
The Astana Declaration issued after the July 4 Summit also said, “The Member States are unanimous in recognising the need to improve SCO mechanisms to counter security challenges and threats and expand specialised cooperation in the fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism, as well as drug trafficking, arms smuggling and other types of transnational organized crime.”
“Today, after decades of taking measures against terrorism in global forums, including through the UN Security Council, terrorism continues to be a threat to the region. The UN-designated terror outfits are still functioning in the region,” he said, referring to wanted Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists like Hafiz Saeed receiving state support.
The SCO 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 its permanent members in 2017.
