Pahalgam attack was deliberately conducted to create religious divide: S Jaishankar at SCO meet

Jaishankar, who is on his first China visit since the Galwan Valley clashes in June 2020, said the Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 people were killed, "was deliberately conducted to undermine the tourism economy of Jammu and Kashmir, while sowing a religious divide."

"The UN Security Council, of which some of us are currently members, issued a statement that condemned it in the strongest terms and underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of this reprehensible act of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice," he said while speaking at the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers Meeting.

Jaishankar said that SCO was founded to combat three evils- terrorism, separatism and extremism, which "not surprisingly" often occur together.

"It is imperative that the SCO, to remain true to its founding objectives, take an uncompromising position on this challenge," Jaishankar said.

Jaishankar also noted that there was an urgent need for regional cooperation, grounded in mutual trust, to stabilise the global order.

"We meet at a time of considerable disorder in the international system. In the last few years, we have seen more conflicts, competition and coercion. Economic instability is also visibly on the rise. The challenge before us is to stabilise the global order, de-risk various dimensions and through it all, address longstanding challenges that threaten our collective interests," he said.

He said the world is today moving towards greater multi-polarity.

"This is not just in terms of redistribution of national capacities, but also the emergence of effective groupings like SCO. Our ability to contribute to the shaping of world affairs will naturally depend on how well we come together on a shared agenda. That means taking everybody on board," said he.

Earlier in the day, Jaishankar called on Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

He met Jinping along with foreign ministers of other countries in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

The minister wrote on X, "Called on President Xi Jinping this morning in Beijing along with my fellow SCO Foreign Ministers. Conveyed the greetings of President Droupadi Murmu & Prime Minister @narendramodi.

"Apprised President Xi of the recent development of our bilateral ties. Value the guidance of our leaders in that regard."

Jaishankar's visit is the latest in a series of high-profile trips by Indian officials to China since tensions between the two sides began to de-escalate late last year.

The visit might also lay the groundwork for a potential visit by Modi to the SCO leaders' summit this fall.

According to Chinese local media, PM Modi has been "warmly" invited by the Chinese ambassador to India, but New Delhi is yet to confirm his attendance.