At the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meet in Kazakhstan's Astana, India reiterated its stance on terrorism, saying that there should be no place for "double standards".
India urged the SCO member states to stand united in the fight against terrorism, emphasising on the need to adopt a zero-tolerance approach towards it in all forms for prosperity and development of the members.
Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs (Economic Relations), Dammu Ravi, spoke at the Meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers in Astana on May 21.
Highlighting the importance of connectivity for the progress of any region, India said that it is essential to uphold the basic principles of SCO charter and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the member states, ANI reported.
Ravi congratulated Kazakhstan for its SCO presidency of the SCO Council of Heads of State in 2024. India also expressed its gratefulness for being admitted as an SCO member in 2017 under Kazakh's presidency.
Notably, in view of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in India, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was unable to join the event, however, he conveyed his wishes for the meeting's success.
India also welcomed Iran into the SCO and condoled the untimely demise of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian and others in the chopper crash last week.
Ravi said that the historical ties India shared with the people of the region should now "create a template for greater mutually beneficial cooperation and people-to-people contact amongst our nation."
He said that the importance of the interests of Central Asian states plays a major role in the engagement with SCO, adding that the platform provides an unparalleled opportunity to unite people, collaborate and grow. This indicates the practice of one of the oldest principles, 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' (The World is One Family), a message that India strongly espouses.
"Since its inclusion as a member of SCO in 2017, India has contributed positively to enhance the role of SCO in the global arena and played a proactive and constructive role in the Organisation as was evident during India's presidency last year," Ravi noted.
Taking the focus to the global challenge of terrorism, the MEA Secretary said that decisive action is necessary to tackle this challenge, adding that there should be no place for "double standards" on such crucial matters.
"One of the global challenges today is terrorism. It has become a major threat to regional and global peace and dealing with this challenge requires decisive action," Ravi said.
He further said, "Regardless of its form and manifestations, we must unite in our fight against terrorism, including cross-border terrorism and terror financing. There should be no place for double standards on such serious matters."
The MEA Secretary also noted that the SCO-RATS mechanism will continue playing a key role in this regard. "India is committed to implement the Action Program flowing from the address by the SCO Heads of State to Youth in 2018 in countering radicalisation," he added.
He raised concern on Afghanistan's situation as well, saying that it directly impacted the regional security. Ravi affirmed that SCO nations must stand together in looking after the well-being of the citizens of Afghanistan.
(With ANI inputs)
