SCO calls for global front to fight terror organisations
China and Russia-led security grouping SCO on Sunday resolved to fight terrorism, separatism and extremism with a renewed vigour in the next three years and called for unified global counterterrorism front under the coordination of the United Nations.
The grouping of eight countries including China, India and Russia, came out with a declaration at the end of its two-day annual summit here, with a resolve to deepen cooperation to contain terrorism, extremism and separatism, reports PTI.
In his address at the summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about challenges of terrorism and cited example of the its effects in Afghanistan. "All parties in
the region should respect the sentiment with which (Afghan) President Ghani has taken courageous steps for peace," Modi said.
He said it was "our common responsibility to ensure that reasons that threaten Afghanistan's sovereignty & security are not repeated".
Modi also talked about connectivity projects and said India was all for such programmes provided they respect the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity. "The Member States strongly condemn all forms of terrorism and consider it necessary to make efforts to promote the creation of a unified global counterterrorism front with the central coordinating role of the UN on the basis of international law, without politicisation or double standards," the Qingdao declaration said.
It said all the member countries were for reaching consensus for adopting the UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism and emphasised the importance of comprehensive measures to reach peaceful settlement of international and regional conflicts.
The SCO leaders also adopted a Joint Appeal to Youth, in which they appealed to youths not to get influenced by extremist ideologies.
The declaration said the SCO will work to stop the spread of terrorist ideology and eliminate factors and conditions that facilitate terrorism and extremism, acknowledging that there can be no justification to any act of terrorism or extremism.