EAM Jaishankar issues BIG statement during first China visit in 5 years: 'The three evils...'

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Tuesday highlighted the issue of the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council in China's Tianjin. He said the group's member countries needed to remain true to its founding objectives and maintain an uncompromising position on terrorism. "The three evils that SCO was founded to combat were terrorism, separatism, and extremism. Not surprisingly, they often occur together. Recently, we in India witnessed a graphic example in the terrorist attack in Pahalgam on 22 April 2025. It was deliberately conducted to undermine the tourism economy of Jammu and Kashmir, while sowing a religious divide," Jaishankar said while addressing the gathering.

'Considerable disorder in global system'
EAM Jaishankar further said: "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. We have since done exactly that and will continue doing so." Jaishankar stated the meeting was taking place 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 stabilize the global order," he said.

EAM pushes for greater collaboration
Jaishankar went on to say, "We will continue to positively approach new ideas and proposals that are genuinely for our collective good. It is essential that such cooperation is based on mutual respect, sovereign equality, and in accordance with territorial integrity and sovereignty of member states." He asserted that there should be more trade, investment, and exchanges in order to deepen collaboration between SCO member nations.

(With inputs from news agency IANS).