Top border officials from China and Pakistan attending SCO meet in Delhi
India has maintained cooperation under the SCO banner despite its major differences with China and Pakistan and even sent a team for last year’s counter-terror exercise hosted by Islamabad.
NEW DELHI: Delegations from Pakistan and China are participating in a meeting of border management forces of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in national capital Delhi beginning Wednesday that is expected to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.
The meeting, being held in New Delhi during June 15-17, is one of several events being organised this year by India in its capacity as chair of SCO’s Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (SCO-RATS) mechanism. This is also the eighth meeting of the heads of border management forces of SCO states.
Besides India, Pakistan and China, SCO includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The delegations from the SCO states also include senior officials from the military and security agencies. The meeting is being held against the backdrop of the dragging India-China military standoff on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and a prolonged downturn in India-Pakistan relations.
India hosted a meeting of SCO-RATS in May that was also attended by senior officials from China, Pakistan and Russia. All eight members of SCO are expected to send security personnel for a counter-terror exercise expected to be held at Manesar.
India has maintained cooperation under the SCO banner despite its major differences with China and Pakistan and even sent a team for last year’s counter-terror exercise hosted by Islamabad.
People familiar with the matter said the ongoing meeting in New Delhi is expected to take up the security situation in Afghanistan, which continues to be a major concern for the executive committee of SCO-RATS.
In a statement issued in April, the committee said recent terror attacks on educational facilities and mosques in Kabul, Mazar-e-Sharif and Kunduz, which caused numerous civilian casualties, indicate there is “spring and summer activation of terrorist structures” aimed at destabilising Afghanistan.
The Dushanbe Declaration issued last September to mark the 20th anniversary of SCO listed combating all forms of terrorism and cross-border organised crime and strengthening border security as priorities for ensuring regional security.
The declaration said member states will continue joint border operations, exchange of information on terrorist activities and joint investigation of terrorist crimes of a trans-national nature through effective border control. This was to be done to prevent the movement of foreign terrorists and terror groups across borders.
