Defence Minister Rajnath Singh advocates for peace at SCO meeting

Addressing the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) defence ministers’ meeting in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek on Tuesday, defence minister Rajnath Singh said “Operation Sindoor had demonstrated India’s firm resolve that terror epicentres will be meted out justifiable punishment”. His warning to Pakistan came before its defence minister Khawaja Asif at the meeting. Rajnath stressed the need for a “united front to tackle evils of terrorism, separatism and extremism by dismantling safe havens and rejecting any political exceptions”. He called on member-states to eliminate double standards in the global fight against terror. “We must not lose sight of state-sponsored cross-border terror which attacks the very sovereignty of a nation state.” Recalling Pahalgam, he said, “No grievance, real or supposed, can become an excuse for terror and humanitarian loss”. On the global situation, he said, “The real crisis today is not of a non-existent order but a tendency to question the established rules-based world order. We must focus on a global consensus where co-existence, cohabitation and compassion take precedence over chaos, competition and conflict…We should not allow it to become an era of violence and war, but an era of peace and prosperity.”