No place for double standards when it comes to terrorism: Rajnath Singh at SCO meet

At the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers' Meeting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on April 28, 2026, India's Defence Minister firmly stated th...

What Happened

At the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers' Meeting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on April 28, 2026, India's Defence Minister firmly stated that "there is no place for any double standards" when dealing with terrorism.
India called on SCO member states not to hesitate in taking action against countries that "abet, shelter, and provide safe havens to terrorists," using explicit language widely interpreted as directed at Pakistan.
India invoked the first anniversary of the April 22, 2025 Pahalgam attack — in which 26 civilians were killed — as context for its counter-terrorism demands at the multilateral forum.
India also recalled its refusal to sign the joint statement at the June 2025 SCO Defence Ministers' Meeting in China, where the communiqué failed to explicitly condemn the Pahalgam attack and attempted to equate internal insurgencies with state-sponsored cross-border terrorism directed at India.

Static Topic Bridges

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation — Founding, Structure, and the "Three Evils" Mandate

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is an intergovernmental body that evolved from the "Shanghai Five" (China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan), established in 1996. It became the SCO in 2001 when Uzbekistan joined, and formalised its Charter in June 2002 (effective 2003). India and Pakistan joined as full members in 2017 — a structural tension that has repeatedly surfaced in the organisation's consensus-based decision-making. The SCO's stated mandate explicitly targets the "three evils" of terrorism, separatism, and extremism, with a dedicated body — the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), headquartered in Tashkent — tasked with counter-terrorism coordination.

Founded: 2001 (as SCO); precursor Shanghai Five: 1996.
Full members (10): China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, Iran, Belarus.
Charter signed: June 2002, Saint Petersburg; in force: 2003.
RATS Executive Committee: Tashkent, Uzbekistan — coordinates intelligence sharing on terrorism, separatism, extremism.
Secretariat: Beijing, China.
The SCO operates on consensus, meaning any single member can block joint statements.

Connection to this news: India's challenge is structural — Pakistan is a co-member, giving it a veto over any SCO language that explicitly condemns cross-border terrorism originating from Pakistani territory. India's statement targets this consensus-blocking dynamic directly.

State-Sponsored Terrorism and International Law

International law does not have a universally agreed definition of "state-sponsored terrorism," but several UN instruments address state responsibility. UN Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001), adopted after the 9/11 attacks, obliges all states to refrain from supporting entities involved in terrorism, freeze terrorist assets, and deny safe haven to terrorists. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has addressed state responsibility for supporting non-state armed groups in the Nicaragua v. USA (1986) case and the DRC v. Uganda (2005) case, establishing the "effective control" test for state responsibility. India's position that "terrorism epicentres" must face consequences is a call for the international community to operationalise these existing norms.

UNSC Resolution 1373 (2001): legally binding on all UN members; requires criminalisation of terrorist financing and denial of safe haven.
UNSC Resolution 1267 (1999) and its successors: established the Al-Qaeda/Taliban sanctions regime — a model for listing state-linked actors.
The "effective control" test (Nicaragua case): state is responsible for acts of non-state groups only if it exercises effective control over specific operations — a high threshold that India argues Pakistan routinely circumvents.
India is a signatory to 13 of the 14 UN conventions on terrorism.

Connection to this news: By using the SCO platform to invoke "double standards," India is building a multilateral record against Pakistan, linking cross-border terrorism to state responsibility norms already codified in UN frameworks.

India's SCO Diplomacy — Tactical Engagement Under Structural Tension

India joined the SCO in 2017 primarily for access to Central Asian connectivity and to avoid strategic isolation from a China-Russia-Pakistan dominated grouping. However, India has consistently refused to endorse SCO initiatives that implicitly legitimise Pakistan's territorial claims (e.g., CPEC references in joint communiqués) or that equate Pakistan's Balochistan insurgency with state-sponsored terrorism directed at India. India's refusal to sign the joint statement at the 2025 SCO Defence Ministers' Meeting was the starkest expression of this posture. The Bishkek 2026 meeting continued this pattern: engagement without endorsement of positions inimical to India's security interests.

India joined SCO as full member: June 2017, Astana Summit.
India has consistently rejected BRI/CPEC references in SCO documents due to the corridor passing through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
At the 2019 SCO Summit, India's External Affairs Minister walked out of a session that showed a map with PoK as part of Pakistan.
Bishkek is the capital of Kyrgyzstan, a founding SCO member; the Defence Ministers' Meeting rotates annually among member states.

Connection to this news: India's vocal stance at Bishkek 2026 reflects a deliberate strategy of using multilateral platforms to shape international narratives on terrorism, particularly following Operation Sindoor.

Key Facts & Data

SCO Defence Ministers' Meeting: April 28, 2026, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
India's Defence Minister met his Chinese and Russian counterparts bilaterally on the sidelines of the meeting.
The Pahalgam attack (April 22, 2025): 26 civilians killed in Jammu and Kashmir — the deadliest terrorist attack on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Operation Sindoor (May 7, 2025): India struck nine terrorist infrastructure sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in response to Pahalgam.
SCO currently has 10 full members; 3 observer states (Afghanistan, Belarus as candidate, Turkey as candidate).
India held the SCO Presidency in 2023 and hosted the SCO Summit virtually.