SCO flak for India

Pakistan and India were found to be at odd ends as they failed to see from the same prism at the SCO's Qingdao moot. New Delhi was, however, caught in an embarrassing situation as member states refused to buy its theory on terrorism, and stopped short of pointing a finger at Pakistan. Perhaps for the first time, a joint communique was not signed as India hopelessly left the august gathering in desperation. It was a moment of flak for it.

All that India wanted is to 'single out' Islamabad and 'blame' it for Pahalgam killings that led to the four-day war between both the countries in May. The sagacious attitude of the SCO members, including China, Russia, Central Asian Republics and Iran, to take a holistic and unbiased view of evolving geopolitics, and at the same time make a referral to an uptick in terrorism in Pakistan's Balochistan province was farsighted diplomacy.

The SCO forum has long been a hard nut to crack for India, and its modus operandi was to overwhelm the forum with its clout at the expense of Pakistan. Previous summits too had seen a lot of estrangement, and few were skipped by either state for reasons of exigency. This time around it was India's vendetta to score a point at the multilateral forum and somehow convince the SCO that Pakistan is the 'pivot of terrorism' and it is on the receiving end.

Whereas, the fact is that Indian proxies, its sleeper cells and its operatives have been active in Pakistan for long, especially in Balochistan, and the arrest of Kulbhushan Jadhav is a case in point. The Jaffar Express hijacking and attacks on Pakistan's security forces in the desolate province have Indian footprints, and it's high time it was taken note of by the countries in the region and beyond.

Pakistan's reiteration of its stance calling upon all member states to hold those accountable who "plan, finance and sponsor terrorism" is the way to go. Rather than beating about the bush on 'terrorism' and that too without any evidence, India should take some orientation in statesmanship and talk it out with Pakistan.