QINGDAO: In another failure to India on the diplomatic front, the Defence Minister Raj Nath Singh refused to sign the joint communique of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Thursday.
The refusal came when there was no mention of the Pahalgam attack in the joint communique, as per the reports.
Pakistan, China and Russia were among the other members who attended the meeting held in Qingdao, China.
Defence Minister Khwaja Asif put forward Pakistan’s stance at the summit. It is the first time since the recent escalation by Pakistan and India, where two high-level officials participated in the same event.
However, the Indian defence czar refuses to sign the joint statement due to no mention of the recent Pahalgam attack in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
The ten-member bloc did not issue a final declaration after this development.
According to Indian news agency ANI, citing government sources, the Indian delegation was having objections on the language of the draft as the condemnation of the Jaffar Express was mentioned, indirectly pointing towards Indian involvement in terrorist attacks in Balochistan.
