Pak ready to work with SCO countries to curb terrorism

Pakistan is ready to work with countries under the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to eliminate terrorism from the region, Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua said on Wednesday.

The Government of Pakistan took to Twitter to inform the same.

"Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua says #Pakistan is ready to work with regional countries under the umbrella of #SCO to effectively eliminate the menace of terrorism from the region. She was inaugurating meeting of the Legal Experts Group of the SCO-RATS in #Islamabad today," the Pakistani government tweeted.

Inaugurating the meeting of the Legal Experts Group of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation-Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (SCO-RATS) here, Janjua said, "We now look forward to working with regional countries under the umbrella of SCO to effectively eliminate terrorism from our region. Pakistan fully supports and welcomes the efforts of SCO-RATS in the fight against 'three evils' of terrorism, extremism, and separatism."

Janjua further said the SCO-RATS meeting holds significance for Islamabad as effectively addressing the menace of terrorism would lead to peace and prosperity in the region.

"Pakistan supports SCO's efforts for regional cooperation in fighting terrorism, drug trafficking, and organised crime. Pakistan is ready to share experiences in tackling the menace of terrorism and ensuring peace and prosperity in the region," the foreign secretary added.

Continuing her tirade against the menace of terrorism, Janjua underlined that terrorism "cannot and should not be identified with any religion, individual countries or nationalities."

Janjua also said the SCO can act as a platform which can act as a potential for connectivity, trade, economic and sustainable development among the member countries and ensuring multilateral cooperation.

The legal experts from eight-member countries of SCO including China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, India and representatives of the SCO-RATS Executive Committee are participating in the three-day meeting (May 23 to 25) in Islamabad.

They are expected to hold discussions on various terror threats facing the South-East Asian region and the ways to enhance counter-terrorism cooperation between SCO member states.

This will be the first-ever SCO meeting being held in Pakistan since it became a permanent member of the organisation along with India in June 2017.

India's participation in the Pakistan-sponsored SCO-RATS meeting assumes significance after it pulled out of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in Islamabad in 2016, alleging Islamabad's involvement in the Uri terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed the lives of 17 soldiers.