India regularly accuses Pakistan of helping rebel groups, and the history of the two nuclear-armed neighbours has been mired in violence and bloodshed.
Pakistan also took part in the summit, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemning the “hydra-headed monster of terrorism and extremism”, while warning that “any temptation to use it as a cudgel for diplomatic point scoring must be eschewed”.
Both India and Pakistan said Afghanistan remained a key concern, with Modi warning of the risk it was a base to “spread instability”, while Sharif called for an “urgent reset” in international engagement with its Taliban rulers.
IRAN JOINS, BELARUS NEXT
Created in 2001 to discuss security and economic matters, other SCO members are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Iran also joined as a full member of the grouping, with Tehran having intensified its diplomacy with friends and foes alike in recent months, seeking to reduce its isolation, improve its economy and project strength.
Russian ally Belarus, which holds observer status, was also told it would become a full member at the next SCO summit.
Encompassing a vast stretch of the globe from Moscow to Beijing, the bloc makes up around half the world’s population – when including both member states as well as observer and “dialogue partner” nations.
India, which also hosts the G20 summit in September, is walking a diplomatic tightrope.
Uniquely, it is a member of both the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Quad, set up with the United States, Japan and Australia to counter Beijing’s growing assertiveness.
Modi was last month hosted in Washington with the full pomp of a state visit, where US President Joe Biden spoke of “two great friends and two great powers”.
At the same time, Moscow remains by far India’s biggest arms supplier – they have been allies for decades – and New Delhi has been an enthusiastic buyer of cut-price Russian oil during the war in Ukraine.
India, with a rapidly growing economy, has surpassed China as the world’s most populous country and has a long-running territorial dispute with Beijing.
Source: CNA
