MEA responds to whether Pakistan will join India’s initiatives at SCO

The Ministry of External Affairs on Monday said it is entirely upon Pakistan to join India's initiatives at SCO meeting. MEA Secretary (West) Vikas Swarup spoke on India's initiatives. Earlier Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu took a veiled jibe at Pakistan. Asserting that terrorism is the biggest challenge the region is facing, India on Monday criticised Pakistan for using it as an "instrument of state policy", and called upon the SCO to combat the menace collectively and enforce internationally recognised legal statutes to comprehensively eradicate safe havens, infrastructure and financial networks supporting terrorism. "Terrorism is truly the enemy of humanity. It is a scourge we need to collectively combat. We remain concerned about threats emerging from ungoverned spaces and are particularly concerned about states that leverage terrorism as an instrument of state policy. Such an approach is entirely against the spirit and ideals and the charter of the SCO," he said at the virtual meet hosted by India. Naidu did not name Pakistan directly during his address.