SCO leaders condemn Jaffar Express and Pahalgam attacks, vow joint fight on terror

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leaders on Monday strongly condemned recent terrorist attacks in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir’s (IIOJK) Pahalgam area, on the Jaffar Express, and in Khuzdar, pledging deeper multilateral cooperation and concrete measures to combat terrorism.

In a joint statement issued after the Council of Heads of State meeting in Tianjin, the leaders stressed that perpetrators, organisers and sponsors of such attacks must be held accountable, reaffirming their strong commitment to combating terrorism, separatism and extremism.

The SCO members underlined the unacceptability of using terrorist and extremist groups for political or selfish purposes, while recognising the primary role of sovereign states in countering these threats.

Pakistan and India recently engaged in a four-day armed conflict following the April 22 Pahalgam attack. New Delhi, without offering any evidence, claimed that Islamabad was behind the attack — allegations that Pakistan has denied.

In response to India’s cross-border strikes, Pakistan had launched Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos after downing six Indian Air Force jets, including three Rafales.

After the brief war, India in June refused to sign a joint document during a high-level SCO Defence Ministers’ meeting in China due to its mentioning terrorist activities in Pakistan’s Balochistan and lack of reference to the Pahalgam incident. The huddle decided not to issue a joint statement over a lack of consensus on the terrorism issue.

However, Pakistan secured a major win after the United States formally designated the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and its militant faction, the Majeed Brigade, as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO). Majeed Brigade was also listed as an alias to BLA’s previous listing as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) group.

The India-backed BLA, first designated as an SDGT in 2019, claimed responsibility for the March hijacking of the Jaffar Express train travelling from Quetta to Peshawar, which left 31 civilians and security personnel martyred and saw more than 300 passengers taken hostage.

Today’s declaration — signed by all SCO members — also highlighted the importance of multilateral cooperation in addressing terrorism and its financing, noting the outcome of the International High-Level Conference on Border Security under the Dushanbe Process. The next round of the conference will be held in New York in 2026, the statement added.

The leaders appreciated the role of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) in facilitating joint counterterrorism exercises, information-sharing, and monitoring efforts. They noted the results of the joint anti-terrorism drills “Interaction – Anti-Terror – 2024” held in China’s Xinjiang region last July, and affirmed readiness to expand such initiatives.