DESPITE being a host of an important event, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi misused the opportunity by trying to sow seeds of discord among member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) but received a befitting response from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who unveiled India’s real face before the world community. The Indian PM, without naming Pakistan, repeated his country’s allegations of ‘cross border’ terrorism and urged the SCO not to hesitate to criticize such nations. Pakistan Prime Minister advised India against using terrorism for diplomatic point-scoring, saying terror activities remain a serious obstacle to peace in the region. Addressing the Council of Heads of State of the SCO, Shehbaz emphasized the importance of countering terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including state-sponsored terrorism.
The SCO is neither a military nor an economic bloc but a platform that offers Eurasian nations a chance to balance their interests amid growing global geopolitical tension. Experts also point out it provides Russia and China with a platform to promote stronger ties with nations that — while not allies — are happy to do business with them. On Tuesday, Russia and China indicated that they want the SCO to do more. Putin pitched for greater economic integration among SCO nations, while also suggesting that the group needed to step up security cooperation – words echoed by China’s Xi and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. The importance that China attaches to this platform is also highlighted by the epoch-making speech of President Xi Jinping in which he presented a comprehensive blueprint for a new global governance system centred on the implementation of ‘Global Development and Security Initiatives’. He called for collectively protecting the security and development interests of the region, a proposition that could change not only the regional geo-political landscape but can also have salutary impact on the overall economic and security environment of the globe. However, there are players like India that always try to undermine important initiatives for the sake of their vested interests. India has effectively blocked the process of regional cooperation initiated under the banner of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and now it has adopted similar attitude to deny potential benefits of the SCO that brings together states constituting about thirty percent of the global GDP and are home to about forty percent of the world’s population. It is unfortunate that India has developed a habit to use such high profile meetings either for spreading false propaganda or trying to gain legitimacy for its illegal actions. Its strategy to host a G-20 tourism working group meeting in the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region backfired when some prominent countries refused to attend the moot. Now again, from the platform of SCO, the Indian PM has tried to malign the legitimate freedom struggle of Kashmiri people by levelling baseless allegations of cross-border terrorism. Pakistan provides only diplomatic, political and moral support to the just cause of Kashmiris and the indigenous nature of their struggle is confirmed by their rejection of the measures India adopted in 2019 to change the status of the disputed territory. While pointing accusing fingers towards Pakistan, the Indian Prime Minister has conveniently forgotten what his country is doing on a daily basis to Kashmiris demanding their right to self-determination. What is justification for killing people, raping women and systematically destroying means of livelihood of Kashmiris on an almost daily basis by the Indian occupation forces? It was in this backdrop that the Prime Minister urged the world community to raise their voice against human rights violations in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K) adding that they will have to ensure people’s right of self-determination for global peace. He said the regional disputes should be resolved according to the UN Security Council resolutions, urging the SCO leaders to ensure respect for the universally recognized principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and right to self-determination as well as the need to immediately and amicably resolve the long-standing disputes in the region. In fact, Narendra Modi himself exposed the real face of his country by repeating opposition to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is purely an economic venture. India has a huge population and size but it belittles its own stature by pursuing short-sighted policies and hegemonic designs. It needs to learn from China which never used its military and economic might to threaten the interests of small countries and instead focuses on cooperative engagement.
