Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in China, terrorism and peace and prosperity cannot go together

Sources said that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, while addressing the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers in Qingdao, China today, refused to sign a document that would have weakened India’s stand. The Defence Minister also strongly put forward India’s stand on the terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22, in which 26 tourists lost their lives. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday targeted Pakistan and said that the culprits, financiers and sponsors of terrorism should be held accountable and “double” standards should not be adopted in dealing with it. In his address at a conference of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Singh said that some countries are using cross-border terrorism as a policy tool to shelter terrorists. Singh reached the Chinese port city of Qingdao on Wednesday to attend the SCO Defence Ministers’ Conference. He said, the biggest challenges in our region are related to peace, security and lack of trust. Singh said, and the root cause of these problems is increasing radicalism, extremism and terrorism. Singh said that peace, prosperity and terrorism cannot go together. He said that peace cannot prevail even with the weapons of mass destruction in the hands of non-state actors and terrorist groups. The Defense Minister said, decisive action is needed to deal with these challenges and we have to fight unitedly against these evils for our collective security. The Defense Minister said that those who sponsor, nurture and use terrorism for their narrow and selfish purposes will have to face the consequences. He said that there should be no place for double standards in dealing with terrorism. Singh said that the SCO should not hesitate to criticize countries adopting double standards in dealing with this threat. Singh also said that the method of the Pahalgam terrorist attack was similar to the previous terrorist attacks of Lashkar-e-Taiba in India. He said that India is adopting a policy of zero tolerance towards terrorism. The Defence Minister also said that India has remained steadfast in its policy of supporting peace, security and stability in Afghanistan.