Pakistan is ‘epicentre of terrorism’: Rajnath Singh

Indian defence establishment formally characterised Pakistan as the "epicentre of terrorism" at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers...

What Happened

Indian defence establishment formally characterised Pakistan as the "epicentre of terrorism" at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers' meeting in Bishkek, marking India's most explicit multilateral articulation of this position.
Operation Sindoor — launched on May 7, 2025 in response to the Pahalgam terror attack (April 22, 2025) — was cited as evidence that terror sanctuaries across international borders are no longer immune from retaliatory action.
Indian officials stressed that the operation was halted on India's own terms and not due to any operational limitation, asserting that the armed forces retain surge capacity to escalate if required.
Over 100 terrorists were confirmed killed and nine major terror infrastructure sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK) were destroyed, including facilities at Bahawalpur and Muridke linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
At the SCO forum, India called for zero tolerance on state-sponsored cross-border terrorism and warned against double standards, implicitly highlighting that some SCO members shield or enable non-state armed groups.
The strikes were conducted between 1:05 AM and 1:30 AM on May 7, 2025, lasting approximately 25 minutes, and specifically avoided Pakistani military installations to signal a calibrated, non-escalatory posture.

Static Topic Bridges

India's Evolving Counter-Terror Doctrine

India's response to cross-border terrorism has evolved through distinct phases: pre-2016 diplomatic restraint, the 2016 Surgical Strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) in response to the Uri attack, the 2019 Balakot Airstrikes following the Pulwama attack, and now Operation Sindoor in 2025 — the most expansive action to date. Each step moved the threshold deeper into Pakistani territory. The doctrine shift signals that India no longer treats Pakistani sovereignty as an absolute shield for non-state actors operating from its soil with state connivance.

2016 Surgical Strikes: Cross-LoC ground raids targeting launch pads in PoJK
2019 Balakot Airstrikes: First Indian air strike inside Pakistan since 1971 war; targeted Jaish-e-Mohammed training facility in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
2025 Operation Sindoor: Nine sites struck, including deep-mainland Pakistan targets at Bahawalpur and Muridke
Targets included Markaz Subhan Allah (linked to JeM/IC814 hijacking, 2001 Parliament attack) and Markaz Taiba (linked to 26/11 Mumbai attacks)

Connection to this news: Operation Sindoor's invocation at a multilateral forum like SCO institutionalises a new deterrence framework, signalling to all members that India's security doctrine no longer rules out pre-emptive or retaliatory strikes against proven terror infrastructure on foreign soil.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

The SCO is a Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance founded in 2001 in Shanghai. Its current members include China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Iran, and several Central Asian states. Despite being a counter-terrorism body (with the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, or RATS, headquartered in Tashkent), the SCO has been hampered by the simultaneous membership of India and Pakistan, whose bilateral tensions frequently shadow ministerial meetings.

Founded: June 15, 2001 (successor to Shanghai Five, est. 1996)
India and Pakistan joined as full members in 2017
Iran became a full member in 2023
RATS (Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure) is the SCO's counter-terrorism arm
Decision-making by consensus, which limits binding anti-terror outcomes given divergent member interests

Connection to this news: India's public statement at SCO naming Pakistan as a terrorism epicentre is diplomatically significant — it places the accusation on record within a forum that includes Pakistan, China, and Russia, forcing these nations to respond or abstain in a multilateral context.

Pahalgam Terror Attack and Its Legal-Strategic Implications

The April 22, 2025 attack in Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir killed 26 civilians, most of them tourists. Indian investigative agencies attributed the attack to Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, triggering Operation Sindoor. Under international law, the right of self-defence under UN Charter Article 51 permits a state to act against non-state actors if the host state is "unwilling or unable" to prevent attacks — a doctrine that India has increasingly invoked.

26 civilians killed in Pahalgam on April 22, 2025
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) are UN-designated terrorist organisations (UNSC Resolutions 1267/1989)
UN Charter Article 51: Right of self-defence, extended to non-state actor hosts under the "unwilling or unable" standard
India's strikes were framed as targeted counter-terror action, not acts of war against Pakistan's military

Connection to this news: The legal framing of the operation as counter-terrorism (not warfare) is central to India's argument that the cessation was voluntary — not a defeat — and that escalation capacity remains intact.

Key Facts & Data

Operation Sindoor launched: May 7, 2025, between 1:05–1:30 AM
Duration of strikes: approximately 25 minutes
Terror sites destroyed: 9 (Pakistan and PoJK)
Terrorists killed: 100+
Terror organisations targeted: Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Hizbul Mujahideen
Key targets: Markaz Subhan Allah, Bahawalpur (JeM HQ); Markaz Taiba, Muridke (LeT HQ)
SCO Defence Ministers' meeting venue: Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (April 2026)
Pakistan's military facilities: Deliberately excluded from strike list to limit escalation
Pahalgam attack date: April 22, 2025; casualties: 26 civilians