SCO legal experts meet in Pak to discuss extremism, terrorism

Legal experts from SCO member states today met in the Pakistani capital and discussed proposals to increase cooperation to combat extremism and terrorism.

Pakistan's Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement that the legal experts' group meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation-Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (SCO-RATS) started on May 23 and ended today.

"Member states discussed various proposals for enhancing regional cooperation in countering terrorism and extremism. The legal experts also discussed administrative and organisational matters," the FO said.

It said the meeting of legal experts in Islamabad also deliberated on the agenda of the 33rd session of the council of SCO-RATS, which will be held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in October.

This was the first ever SCO meeting to be held in Pakistan since it become a member of the grouping in June, 2017 along with India.

The FO said legal experts from eight member states, namely China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan, as well as representatives of the SCO-RATS executive committee participated in the meeting.

The SCO-RATS, based in Tashkent, was established by the member states of the SCO in 2001 to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism.

As a permanent organ of the SCO, it is a regional forum for exchange of views and best practices on countering terrorism and extremism. The highest decision-making body of the SCO-RATS is the council, which meets once in six months.

The decisions of the council of SCO-RATS are prepared and vetted by the legal experts working group, which meets thrice before every council meeting. These expert-level meetings are held in all members of the SCO on voluntary or rotational basis, the FO said.