PM Modi talks tough at SCO, says some nations using cross-border terrorism as policy, sheltering terrorists

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took an indirect jibe at Pakistan for “harboring terrorists” and called the SCO members to come together and fight the menace. “Terrorism is a threat to global peace. it is important to take decision to curb this. We have to fight this together,” PM Modi said in his address at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit 2023 today. “Some nations are using cross-border terrorism as an instrument of their policies and giving shelter to terrorists,” PM Modi said. Through his statement, PM Modi also slammed China and said: “SCO members should not hesitate and instead should come out in open to criticise such nations. SCO countries should condemn it. There should be no double standards on terrorism.”

The Prime Minister also asked the SCO members to work in direction to stop terror funding and radicalisation. The statement of PM Modi comes at an event which was also virtually attended by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Also, Prime Minister Modi’s indirect attack on Pakistan and China comes within days after Beijing blocked a proposal by India and the US to designate Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist and 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks mastermind Sajid Mir as a global terrorist at the United Nations. India and the US had, earlier, jointly moved the proposal to blacklist Mir under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council as a global terrorist and subject him to an assets freeze, a travel ban and an arms embargo. Last year in September, China had put a hold on the proposal and this time around has blocked it. It wasn’t the first such shielding of Pakistani terrorists by China. In October 2022, China had placed a hold on the proposal to add Hafiz Talah Saeed, the son of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed, on UN’s global terrorists list. At the same time, China also blocked a proposal by India and the US at the UN to list LeT’s Shahid Mahmood as a global terrorist. Mahmood, a senior leader based in Karachi, was declared a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) in 2016 by the US. In August 2022, China blocked a proposal to blacklist the senior Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) deputy chief Abdul Rauf Azhar, saying it needed more time to assess the application. In June last year, Beijing put a technical hold on the proposal by India and the US to blacklist Pakistan-based terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki, the brother-in-law of Hafiz Saeed. In March 2019, China prevented a UNSC committee from blacklisting Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) Masood Azhar. However, two months on, the United Nations declared him a global terrorist, which came as a big diplomatic win for India after China withdrew its objections. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .