India, Pakistan set to enter SCO amid differences over terrorism

BEIJING: India and Pakistan will formally join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at a formal ceremony in Beijing on June 15.The two countries will be in the company of China, Russia, and Central Asian nations in the club that aims to develop both trade and military relationship between countries in China's neighbourhood. 

The flag-raising ceremony, which will see India's entry into SCO, comes soon after Delhi emerged as the only major country to boycott China's much-touted One Belt, One Road (OBOR) forum, attended by representatives from over 70 countries in mid-May. 

An important question is whether SCO will provide China and Russia with an opportunity to mediate in the differences between India and Pakistan. This is significant because New Delhi refuses to permit external involvement in its bilateral issues with Islamabad. India also believes China acted against its interests when New Delhi tried to persuade the United Nations to censure Pakistan-based terrorists, including Maulana Masood Azhar. 

SCO has held joint military exercises and worked on trade pacts among member countries. But the entry of India and Pakistan, which have serious differences between themselves, is expected to change the nature of the business it conducts, analysts said. The entry of the two South Asian countries will make SCO the world's largest regional cooperative organisation representing the biggest section of the global population, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said recently. 

China is willing to work with Russia and other member countries to promote SCO solidarity and make cooperation among its members more effective, Wang added. But this may be a difficult for the grouping as Islamabad and Beijing do not agree with India about taking action against Pakistanbased terrorists.

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SAIBAL DASGUPTA