There can be no justification of terrorism and no double standards on tackling it, defence minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)’s Council of Heads of Government meeting in Tajikistan’s Dushanbe.
The operation and a subsequent military conflict resulted in heavy military losses for Pakistan. Defence minister Rajnath Singh is in Tajikistan on a two-day official visit to represent India at the SCO council’s government meeting.
Singh called terrorism “one of the gravest threats to development” and said that it not only harms lives but also investment and commerce. “Terrorism radicalises societies and keeps our youth devoid of opportunities that they deserve,” Singh said, in the presence of Pakistan’s foreign minister and deputy prime minister Ishaq Dar. Earlier in September, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also said that SCO member countries need to work together to dismantle the entire “ecosystem of terrorism”. “We must dismantle the entire ecosystem of terrorist financing, recruitment, radicalisation and safe havens,” PM Modi said at an SCO meeting attended by Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian and others. “While India believes in tourism, Pakistan considers terrorism as tourism, which is very dangerous for the world,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said, days after the cessation of hostilities was announced.
He was greeted by Tajikistan’s Defence Minister Emomali Sobirzoda and Sherali Jonon of the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Singh was accorded a ceremonial welcome on his arrival at the Dushanbe airport, according to news agency PTI.
