India’s total diplomatic isolation was in show in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)’s defence ministers meet in Qingdao city in China on June 25 and 26 when a joint statement was prepared calling upon the members to jointly fight terror but there was no mention of Pahalgam killings on April 22 while taking note of attacks in Balochistan.
The joint statement was prepared after discussions among the members including India and Pakistan at the meet presided over by China, the host nation for 2025 summit. Indian defence minister Rajnath Singh strongly spoke against terror during the deliberations focusing on the Pahalgam massacre and the consequent action of India to dismantle the terror camps in Pakistan through Operation Sindoor. But the joint statement on the final day did not incorporate Indian point on Pahalgam terror while the Pakistani point on Balochistan was included.
Naturally, Singh did not sign this one sided declaration. The norm in SCO is that every resolution will have to be on the basis of consensus. So as a result of India’s objection, the joint statement could not be issued. Pakistan is happy that India was alone in not signing. So it was a diplomatic victory for Islamabad which is engaged with India in a perception battle after Pahalgam killings and Operation Sindoor, to influence the global opinion.
SCO has presently ten members- China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Iran, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Indian officials claimed that the statement was tuned in favour of Pakistan by China. Fine enough. It might be true. But then what about the other seven members including Russia? It was a sheer failure of our foreign office that all the central Asian member states of the SCO did not come in support of India. Even Russia did not intervene to amend the statement to incorporate Indian view. In all in SCO, out of ten members, excepting India, no other country was against the statement. It was a clear 9-1 in favour of Pakistan.
The SCO summit of head of states will be held later this year in Tianjin in China. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be attending the SCO summit, it is stated. He will be meeting there the Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as also the other leaders.. The issue of fighting terror will also figure at that summit like the latest meeting of defence ministers. What is Prime Minister of India going to do to ensure that the summit declaration finally contains the Indian viewpoint.?
Even before that SCO summit later this year, BRICS summit will be held in Brazil on July 6 and 7. Indian PM will be attending that. At that meeting also, the fight against terror issue will come up. Pakistan is not a member of BRICS. That way that pressure from Islamabad which was there on the Qingdao meeting, will not be there in Brazil summit. But every country has taken some position and that does not change suddenly. It requires constant persuasion and presentation of facts. Rajnath Singh and his team totally failed at Qingdao meeting to convince the members of the SCO. That should not be repeated at the Brazil summit. Only few days are left for the BRICS summit. In these eight days, Indian diplomats have to make all efforts to meet the member countries and convince them of Indian position with full facts about the involvement of Pakistan with terror attacks against India. Brazil and South Africa are key members. They should be briefed properly to avoid any embarrassment at the summit
As regards the coming SCO summit later this year, the deliberations will be highly important from the perspective of both security and economy of the region. Now in its 25th year, the SCO has expanded from its original six founding members into a “big family” of 10 member states, two observer states, and 14 dialogue partners – stretching from the East European plains to the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Rim, and encompassing nearly half of the world’s population.
SCO sources say that the SCO has become a mature platform for regional security cooperation, with continuously growing influence, cohesion and appeal. Over the past 25 years, this “giant ship of security” has been riding the waves against terrorism, separatism and extremism, making outstanding contributions to regional security. The economic and trade dividends and people-to-people exchanges emerging from security cooperation have also been remarkable, significantly bringing the peoples of the member states closer together in all aspects.
India has neglected the functioning of BRICS and SCO in the last five years out of its love for US sponsored QUAD. Now with the US President Trump humiliating Indian Prime Minister consistently by mentioning his decision on India-Pakistan ceasefire 18 times since May10 and entertaining Pakistan chief of army staff Asim Munir over lunch, our Prime Minister should give a relook to the foreign policy pursued by him in the last five years. This is time India should join hands with Brazil, South Africa and other developing countries to fight for Global South .The country’s interests lie with Global South, that Mr. Narendra Modi should not forget. (IPA Service)