Thu Jun 26 12:40:00 UTC 2025: Okay, here’s a news article summarizing the provided text:
**India Refuses to Sign SCO Joint Statement Due to Lack of Consensus on Terrorism**
**New Delhi:** India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh declined to sign a joint statement at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) defense ministers’ meeting due to a lack of consensus among member states, particularly regarding the issue of terrorism, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that while Singh attended the two-day meeting, the joint statement could not be formalized because certain member states disagreed with including India’s concerns about terrorism.
“Our side conveyed that India wants the joint statement to reflect our concerns about terrorism… But a particular country expressed its disagreement on this, after which the statement was not signed,” Jaiswal said, without naming the specific country.
During the summit, Singh urged all members to unite against terrorism in all its forms, reiterating India’s stance that cross-border terrorism, along with its perpetrators, organizers, and financiers, must be held accountable. He emphasized India’s zero-tolerance policy towards terrorism, even alluding to past operations like Operation Sindoor as evidence of India’s firm stance.
Reports leading up to the meeting suggested disagreements arose because the proposed documents did not mention the Pahalgam attack while including Balochistan, further highlighting the divergence in perspectives on terrorism within the SCO.
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