SCO states to work on unified terror list

New Delhi, July 5

The ‘Delhi Declaration’ of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has called for a unified list of terrorist, separatist and extremist organisations whose activities are prohibited on the territories of the SCO member states.

Delhi declaration

• ‘Delhi Declaration’ emphasises preparing unified terror list
• Will include terrorist, extremist bodies barred by members
• China has several times blocked Indian efforts to sanction Pakistan-based ultras

The declaration was issued after the virtual summit held here on Tuesday. It followed PM Narendra Modi denouncing cross-border terrorism as an instrument of policy of some countries and calling upon SCO members to unreservedly criticise such nations.

Chairing the SCO virtual summit, held under India’s presidency for the first time, the PM was attempting to resolve a strange dichotomy in the functioning of the SCO. While it avows countering terrorism as one of its main aims, China has blocked joint India-US attempts to globally sanction several Pakistan-based terrorist leaders. In Afghanistan too, there is divergence in the approach of SCO members, some of whom have been promoting militancy in the country.

Besides the Delhi Declaration which mentioned terrorism and radicalisation, the Council of SCO Heads of State issued a separate statement “countering radicalisation, which was leading to terrorism, separatism and extremism”. It reiterated that any act of terrorism was criminal and unjustifiable. It also emphasised the inadmissibility of states using terrorist, separatist and extremist groups and their accomplices to implement particular political and geopolitical goals.