India must learn to play its cards at the Shanghai Club

In the din of corruption and black money, civil society movements and hunger strikes by sadhus and sanyasis, some very important national issues with international dimensions have remained unattended. Strangely, even the wise talking heads on national TV debates, often pontificating on foreign policy issues, have not raised the topic of the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Member States, scheduled to be held in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, on June 15.

One of the main reasons why the Indian media, as well as the country’s foreign policy experts, should pay attention to this summit is the concern for the subcontinent, enveloped by terrorism, drug trade and overarching security issues, particularly in the context of declining American credibility and influence. Just like BRIC, the Shanghai Club has emerged as a new power centre. The summit to be held in Kazakhstan this month may formally announce the giving of an ‘observer’ status to Afghanistan. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently said that India and Pakistan have the status of observers, but both the countries are seeking to become full members.

Along with India, Iran and Mongolia have the observer status. At present, the regional security group has six permanent members — they are Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. We are all aware how important this Central Asian region and the Indian subcontinent are for the peace and progress of the respective countries. And yet, we see little interest in the MEA bureaucracy and their pet experts in the coming crucial meeting of the Shanghai Club. Incidentally, this is the 10th jubilee meet. The observations made by Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister, Yerzgan Kazykhanov, should also be noted in this context. In the SCO ministerial meeting held recently, he has said that “the situation in Afghanistan will keep tensions high in the region, remaining a source of terror, extremism and illegal trafficking of drugs and weapons”.

The great civil society fighters who shout and scream about the evil of black money and corruption hardly ever mention the fact that drug trafficking and parallel weapons bazaars are directly related to the rise and spread of terrorism which can lead to full scale war. The SCO summit is going to approve the organisation’s anti-drug strategy for the next five years. That is why India must take a keen interest in the Astana summit and participate in it at the highest level; the Prime Minister should preferably attend himself. At least that appears to be the expectation of summit members, going by their statements made in different fora. The Kazakhstan foreign minister has particularly mentioned the possibility of a “new wave of terror” following the killing of Osama bin Laden.

But apart from these very urgent and sensitive security issues, India can participate in a number of economic projects like creating a joint electronic telecommunication satellite. India should clearly delineate its Indo-US strategic relationship from the interaction within the SCO. India can take a lead in further activating the Regional Counter-Terrorism Structure (RCTS). The RCTS will give access to the accumulated information database. However, all these issues will be given their due status and representation only if India takes an active role and does not relegate the SCO summit to a secondary status, just because it does not have the “glamour” of the high level meetings with US or with European countries or even with China.

— The author is chief editor, Divya Marathi
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