India declined to sign the joint communiqué at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Minister Meeting in Qingdao, China, following protests over the lack of mention of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu & Kashmir in the document. The move is a reflection of increasing discord between India and SCO members China and Pakistan on terrorism.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who headed the Indian delegation, strongly objected to the final draft of the SCO communiqué. In line with officials, the document mentioned some terrorist attacks in Pakistan but did not make a mention of the fatal Pahalgam attack that claimed 26 Indian civilians.
India maintains that the exclusion was because of Pakistani objections, with support coming from China, the present chair of SCO, for its ally. Consequently, India decided against signing off on the document — an unusual but strong diplomatic action in multilateral organizations where consensus is the standard.
Rajnath Singh’s Stern Message
Without explicitly mentioning Pakistan, Singh said during his speech:
“Some nations employ cross-border terrorism as a tool of policy and give asylum to terrorists. There cannot be room for such double standards in the war against terror.”
He additionally asserted that Indian policy is one of “zero tolerance” towards terrorism and called on SCO members to have a collective, clear stand.
Operation Sindoor and Self-Defence
Speaking of India’s retaliatory strike following the Pahalgam attack, Singh asserted that “Operation Sindoor” on May 7 attacked terror infrastructure along the border. The operation was undertaken based on India’s right of self-defence and with the aim of disrupting camps of outfits like The Resistance Front and Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Singh also expressed concern about the employment of drones and unmanned systems to transport weapons and explosives into Indian airspace, and urged greater SCO cooperation on emerging threats.
India–China Bilateral Engagement
On the sidelines of the SCO gathering, Singh also had a meeting with Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun, the first such meeting since the Galwan skirmish in 2020. The two leaders spoke on the resumption of military communication channels, including a hotline at the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Singh reaffirmed the requirement for complete disengagement and de-escalation in eastern Ladakh.
Breaking Consensus to Make a Point
India’s refusal to sign the communiqué is a deliberate break with SCO’s traditional consensus-driven diplomacy. According to analysts, this step consolidates India’s resolve to push back against terrorism and serves notice that New Delhi will not sign any document that seems politically tainted or does not address its national security issues.
India has done so before — such as resisting signing SCO documents that referred to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and keeping an equidistant stance in declarations involving West Asia.
What This Means for SCO
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation of eight member nations, including China, Russia, India, and Pakistan, is experiencing increasing internal conflicts. India’s recent action highlights the difficulty of establishing a collective voice in a block increasingly fractured by national interest.
India’s strong position at the SCO session is not symbolic — it is a clear strategic change of course. As terror challenges become more dynamic and geopolitics become more multifaceted, New Delhi has signaled that national security and morally grounded diplomacy will inform its leadership on the world stage — even if it means paying the price of short-term agreement.
