NEW DELHI: India said on Monday that the most important challenge facing the region is terrorism and that eliminating this threat will help it realize its true potential, including in the economic sphere.
In a speech at the virtual meeting of the council of heads of government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu he particularly mentioned cross-border terrorism and called for combating the threat with a collective approach.
In a clear reference to PakistanNaidu said: “We are particularly concerned about states that use terrorism as an instrument of state policy.”
“The most important challenge we face is terrorism, particularly cross-border terrorism,” he said.
Naidu said that “eliminating” the threat of terrorism will help the region realize its true potential.
India will host the meeting for the first time after it gained full membership to the influential group in 2017 and it will be held in virtual format.
In another reference to Pakistan, he said it is regrettable that there are attempts to deliberately bring bilateral issues to the SCO, describing it as a flagrant violation of the principles and norms of the group’s charter.
In mid-September, India’s national security adviser Ajit doval came out of a virtual meeting of senior security officials from SCO member states after the Pakistani representative projected a map that inaccurately depicted Kashmir.
India had criticized Pakistan for “blatant disregard” of the meeting’s rules.
On video: SCO meeting: Vice President Venkaiah Naidu cries in Pakistan for his support for terrorism
.
