SCO Vows To Eliminate 'Sleeper Cells' And Terrorist Safe Havens

NEW DELHI: The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Tuesday pledged to prevent the spread of terrorism and counter-terror financing, even as India stopped short of joining other members of the grouping in endorsing China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)

The New Delhi Declaration issued at the conclusion of the virtual SCO Summit hosted by India listed steps the member states will take to fight terrorism, separatism and extremism, including "active measures to eliminate the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism", disruption of terror financing channels, and suppression of recruitment activities and cross-border movement of terrorists.

The SCO states will eliminate "sleeper cells" and terrorist safe havens, and counter the radicalisation of youth and dissemination of terrorist ideology, according to the joint declaration, which was issued hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his opening remarks at the summit that the grouping shouldn't hesitate to criticise countries that use terror as an instrument of policy.

However, India didn't join Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in reaffirming support for BRI, China's flagship connectivity initiative. The joint declaration said these countries backed ongoing work to jointly implement the project, including efforts to link BRI and the construction of the Eurasian Economic Union.

India is among the few countries that didn't sign on for BRI and has consistently opposed the initiative as a key part of it-the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)-passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Indian officials have also spoken of the debt burden imposed on countries in the region by BRI projects.