SCO moot: Pakistan advises India against ‘weaponising terrorism for diplomatic point scoring’
GOA: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Friday, without naming India, warned the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states against “weaponising terrorism for diplomatic point scoring” as India raises terrorism issue.
Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, prior to Bilawal’s speech, said the menace of terrorism continues unabated, adding that taking eyes of this menace is detrimental to the security interests of all.
“The collective security of our peoples is our joint responsibility. Terrorism continues to threaten global security. Let’s not get caught up in weaponising terrorism for diplomatic point scoring,” Bilawal said while addressing the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) summit in Goa.
The foreign minister said: “When I speak on this topic [terrorism], I do so not only as the foreign minister of Pakistan whose people have suffered the most in terms of number of attacks and number of casualties. I also speak as the son whose mother was assassinated at the hands of terrorists.
“I feel the pain of this loss, empathise with victims across the world a way most can’t. I and my country are firmly committed to be part of regional and global efforts for eradicating this menace.”
The foreign minister — who is leading the country’s delegation which arrived in Goa on Thursday to attend the two-day meeting of the SCO CFM — emphasised that the idea of eradicating this menace requires not only a “comprehensive approach but also a collective approach”.
He said that the root causes need to be addressed as well as the threats posed by specific groups.
“It requires that we let this challenge unite us to fight it rather than divide us to become its victim. Our success requires us to isolate this issue from geo-political partisanship,” he maintained, adding that practical, pragmatic solutions exist for us to put an end to this chapter once and for all.
“We must stop conflating non-state actors with state actors. Condemn all forms of terrorism including state-sponsored terrorism,” he stressed.