Stop terror financing across the board: Jaishankar at SCO meeting
What's the story
All the channels of financing terror activities must be blocked without distinction, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said while addressing a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Goa on Friday. He added in his opening address that terrorism in all its forms, including cross-border terrorism, must be stopped. His remarks came in the presence of Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
Context
Why does this story matter?
The summit is significant considering India's tense ties with its neighbors, Pakistan and China—both of whom are SCO members—as well as the increasing tensions between the West and Russia over the Ukraine war. The SCO also serves as a conduit for India and China to communicate outside of the South Asian region's geopolitical arena.
Terror
No justification for terrorism: Jaishankar
Jaishankar said there can be no justification for terrorism and underlined that combating it is one of the original mandates of the SCO. In an apparent dig at Pakistan, he stated that while the world was battling the COVID-19 pandemic, the menace of terrorism grew unabated. He added that neglecting the problem would be detrimental to the SCO's security concerns.
LAC
Draw lessons from history: Chinese foreign minister
Notably, the discussions between Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart, Qin Gang, on Thursday were centered around the three-year-old military stand-off at the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Gang said the border situation is "generally stable" and both sides should "draw lessons from history." Jaishankar also met his Russian and Uzbek counterparts, Sergey Lavrov and Bakhtiyor Saidov, respectively, and held talks on bilateral ties.
Bhutto
Don't weaponize terrorism for diplomatic point scoring: Bhutto
Jaishankar and Bhutto greeted each other and shook hands. However, no bilateral meeting was reportedly held between them. In his address, Bhutto said that the "collective security of our peoples is our joint responsibility. Terrorism continues to threaten global security." However, indirectly hitting back at Jaishankar, he said, "Let's not get caught up in weaponizing terrorism for diplomatic point scoring."
Language
India pushes for including English as official language
Jaishankar also sought the support of fellow members to make English the third official language of communication of the SCO. India first proposed the inclusion of English in the SCO along with Mandarin and Russian in 2020. Apart from China and Russia, the Russian language is widely spoken in the four Central Asian countries as they were former members of the Soviet Union.