Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who is in China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers' Meeting, refused to sign a joint statement at the event on Thursday. This comes as the statement did not mention the Pahalgam terror attack of April 22, in which 26 men, mostly tourists, were targeted based on their religious identity.
The Defence Minister refused to sign the statement as it did not reflect India's strong position on terror. The document, however, mentioned Balochistan, indirectly blaming India for the ongoing unrest there.
The decision to omit the Pahalgam attack is believed to have been influenced by Pakistan, as its close ally China is currently leading the SCO. Following the Pahalgam incident, India carried out air strikes against terror infrastructure in Pakistan under ‘Operation Sindoor'.
“India is not satisfied with the language of the joint document. There was no mention of the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, there was mention of the incidents that happened in Pakistan, so India refused to sign the joint declaration, and there is no joint communique either," a Defence Ministry source told NDTV.
My statement at the SCO Defence Ministers' Meeting in Qingdao (China) pic.twitter.com/dV3Bc0wtOk
The meeting was held in China's Qingdao, where Singh also issued a statement defending India's action under ‘Operation Sindoor'.
“During the Pahalgam terror attack, victims were shot after they were profiled on religious identity. The Resistance Front, a proxy of UN-designated terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed responsibility for the attack. The pattern of the Pahalgam attack matches with LeT's previous terror attacks in India. India's zero tolerance for terrorism was demonstrated through its actions. It includes our right to defend ourselves against terrorism. We have shown that epicentres of terrorism are no longer safe and we will not hesitate to target them,” he added.
In his statement, Singh called all acts of terrorism criminal and unjustifiable, and urged SCO member states to denounce terrorism in all forms without exception.
The SCO is an intergovernmental alliance comprising nine member countries, including China and Russia. India and Pakistan, initially observer states, became full members in 2017.
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