INDIA TO TAKE PART IN SCO ANTITERRORISM MEETING IN PAK

NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD: India will send a delegation led by a joint secretary-level official to an antiterrorism conference hosted by Pakistan under the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), taking the view that it is a multilateral forum, persons familiar with the development said.

The three-day meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation–regional Anti-terrorist Structure (SCO-RATS) legal experts will kick off on Wednesday.

India’s participation in the first such SCO meeting hosted in Islamabad is being seen as significant given the recent tensions with Pakistan, but a person familiar with New Delhi’s position said it took the view that the event is multilateral. “The decision was taken to send a delegation led, most probably by a joint secretary level officer, as SCO is a multilateral forum,” said the person. Both Pakistan and India became SCO members in June 2017.

The Pakistani foreign office said in a statement that it “is pleased to welcome delegations from SCO member states to Islamabad.”

However, external affairs ministry didn’t make a formal response to that statement, which also said delegations from all SCO member states will attend the meeting. Legal experts from the eight member states--china, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan--and representatives of the SCO-RATS executive committee will participate in the meeting. They will discuss terrorist threats facing the region and ways and means to enhance counter-terrorism cooperation between SCO member states, said the Pakistan foreign office statement.