External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has backed Defence Minister Rajnath Singh&rsquo;s decision not to sign the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) joint statement during the recent summit held in China, citing the omission of any reference to terrorism in the final declaration.
Speaking to the media, Jaishankar emphasized that the core objective of the SCO is to combat terrorism, and any attempt to dilute this mission undermines the credibility of the organisation. "If you don't even want to mention terrorism in a joint statement, what's the point of the SCO?" he questioned.
Jaishankar indirectly pointed fingers at Pakistan, stating, "There&rsquo;s one country that doesn&rsquo;t even want to talk about terrorism &mdash; you can guess which one." He stressed that India will not endorse any document that ignores the issue of terrorism, especially in the wake of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, where 26 people, including several tourists, lost their lives.
Rajnath Singh, who was attending the SCO Defence Ministers&rsquo; Meeting in China, raised specific concerns about growing regional terrorism and cited the Pahalgam attack as a critical example. Due to the omission of terrorism-related references in the joint statement, he refused to endorse the final document.
The SCO currently includes India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Iran, and Belarus. India became a full member in 2017 and had assumed rotational chairmanship in 2023.
By refusing to sign the joint statement, India has sent a strong diplomatic message that it remains firm in its stance on counterterrorism and will not compromise on core security concerns, even on multilateral platforms.
[Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by the Benefit News editorial team and is published directly from the IANS news feed.]

Jaishankar Backs Rajnath’s SCO Stand Over Terrorism Omission

India refuses to sign the SCO joint statement as terrorism finds no mention; Jaishankar calls it a justified decision.

Jaishankar Backs Rajnath’s SCO Stand Over Terrorism Omission

India refuses to sign the SCO joint statement as terrorism finds no mention; Jaishankar calls it a justified decision.

June 27, 2025 | 23:59 IST