SCO To Prepare List of Terrorist, Separatist, Extremist Groups Banned In Member States

To combat the security danger posed by militant groups, the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) intend to develop a list of terrorist, separatist and extremist organisations whose activities are forbidden on the territory of SCO member states.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other SCO member state leaders voiced their deep concern about the security danger posed by terrorism, separatism, and extremism in all of its forms and expressions. The world's leaders vehemently denounced all acts of terrorism.

According to the statement, “The member states while reaffirming a strong commitment to combat terrorism, separatism, and extremism, resolve to continue to take active measures to address the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism, cut off terrorist financing channels, suppress terrorist recruitment and cross-border movement, counter extremism, the radicalisation of youth, the spread of terrorist ideology, and eliminate sleeper cells and places used as terrorist safe havens.”

The leaders of the eight-member organisation signed a document in Samarkand that reads, "In accordance with their national legislation and based on consensus, the member states will seek to develop common principles and approaches to form a unified list of terrorist, separatist, and extremist organisations whose activities are prohibited on the territories of the SCO member states."

Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said that every SCO member state had clearly understood the threat that this challenge posed to the region and beyond.

India expressed a strong desire to strengthen its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which focuses on security and defence-related problems.

The SCO which has eight members and is considered as a counterweight to NATO, has grown to become one of the most prominent transregional international organisations. 

In 2017, India and Pakistan joined SCO as permanent members.

The presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan established the SCO at a conference in Shanghai in 2001.