At SCO-RATS meet, India calls for punishing sponsors of Pahalgam terror attack

The Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation on Wednesday condemned the Pahalgam terror attack even as India called for holding the sponsors of the dastardly strike to account.

The terror attack figured prominently at the 44th meeting of the RATS held at Cholpon Ata in Kyrgyz Republic.

The RATS is an influential platform that mainly focuses on countering terrorism and separatism.

The RATS meeting strongly condemned the Pahalgam terror attack, officials said.

While doing so, the Council of RATS SCO endorsed the statement on the condemnation of Pahalgam terror attack in the Tianjin declaration, they said.

The annual summit of the SCO held in the Chinese city of Tianjin on September 1 had strongly condemned the Pahalgam terror attack and concurred with India's position that "double standards" in the fight against terrorism are unacceptable.

The influential grouping listed its strong resolve to combat terrorism in the Tianjin Declaration that was unveiled at the end of the summit. It was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russia's Vladimir Putin and many other global leaders.

This RATS council meet was organised under the chairship of Kyrgyz Republic.

The Indian delegation was headed by T V Ravichandran, Deputy National Security Advisor.

In his speech, Ravichandran called for holding accountable the sponsors, organisers and financiers of "inexcusable" Pahalgam terror attack. The deputy NSA also underlined the need to shunning double standards in fighting terrorism, the officials said.