Citing Afghanistan at SCO, Modi pitches for template to combat radicalisation

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 17

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called on the global community to take a collective decision after due thought on the recognition of the new regime in Afghanistan while promising full cooperation in every regional or global initiative to help the Afghan society.

“The Afghan and Indian people have shared a special relationship for centuries. The recent developments in Afghanistan will have the greatest impact on neighbouring countries like us,” he told members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) group of countries gathered in Bishkek via a video address.

Seeking the central role of the UN in the transition process, PM Modi called on the world community to pay attention to four issues in his first detailed observations on Afghanistan.

The first is that the transition of power in Afghanistan is not inclusive and happened without negotiation, raising questions about the acceptability of the new system. The second is that if instability and fundamentalism persist in Afghanistan, it will encourage terrorist and extremist ideologies all over the world. In this respect, the PM suggested a code of conduct to prevent activities like cross-border terrorism and terror-financing as also a system for its enforcement.

The third issue is the uncontrolled flow of drugs, illegal weapons and human trafficking. And the fourth is the serious humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

The PM said other extremist groups might also be encouraged to come to power through violence. “All our countries have been the victims of terrorism in the past. And therefore, together, we should ensure that the territory of Afghanistan is not used to spread terrorism in any other country,” he said while calling on SCO member countries to develop strict and agreed norms on the subject.

In the future, these norms, based on the principle of zero-tolerance towards terrorism, can become a template for global anti-terror cooperation.

The Prime Minister said the RATS (regional anti-terror structure) mechanism of the SCO, which India would chair, could play a constructive role in monitoring these flows and enhancing information-sharing.

Reminding that India had provided assistance in every sector from infrastructure to education, the Prime Minister said it was eager to deliver food and medicines to the Afghan people.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation consists of China, Russia, four Central Asian countries, India and Pakistan. Iran has been admitted during the ongoing summit. The CSTO, a military treaty organisation, consists of Russia, four Central Asian states, Belarus and Armenia while Azerbaijan and Georgia have left it.

India dissociates from Bishkek Declaration’s mention of BRI

• PM Modi called for enhancing connectivity between land-locked Central Asia and India.
• In a jibe at China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), he noted that connectivity projects must be transparent.
• India disassociated itself from a paragraph in the SCO’s Bishkek Declaration supporting the BRI.

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