ISLAMABAD: Leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Monday adopted a joint declaration strongly condemning recent terrorist attacks in Pakistan, pledging solidarity with the victims and urging that those responsible be brought to justice.
The SCO is a 10-nation Eurasian bloc whose members include China, Russia, Pakistan, India, and Iran.
The SCO summit of leaders was held in the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin. China’s President Xi Jinping hosted the two-day summit of SCO leaders as well as “SCO plus”, bringing together some 20 heads of state and government, besides leaders of international organisations.
It was the largest gathering of the SCO as well as the fifth time hosted by China since the bloc was formed in 2001.
The summit adopted the Tianjin Declaration, which said, “Member states strongly condemned the terrorist attacks on Jaffar Express on March 11 and in Khuzdar on May 21, 2025.”
The SCO leaders expressed their “deepest sympathy and condolences” to the families of the dead and the wounded, saying that the perpetrators, organisers and sponsors of such attacks must be brought to justice.
“The member states, while reaffirming their firm commitment to the fight against terrorism, separatism and extremism, stress the inadmissibility of attempts to use terrorist, separatist and extremist groups for mercenary purposes.
They recognise the leading role of sovereign states and their competent authorities in countering terrorist and extremist threats.”
It may be recalled that on March 11, the Jaffar Express was hijacked by militants from the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).
The attackers ambushed the Peshawar-bound train, which was carrying 440 passengers, opening fire and taking several hostages. Security forces launched a two-day rescue operation that concluded on March 12.
On May 21, a school bus was targeted by a bomb near Zero Point in Khuzdar, along the Quetta-Karachi highway.
The attack killed at least six people, including three students, and injured more than 40 others—most of them students. The bus was en route to drop children at the Army Public School located in the Khuzdar Cantonment area.
The declaration also condemned the Pahalgam terrorist incident in Indian-Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
The SCO defence ministers’ summit in June had failed to reach a consensus on a joint statement due to India’s refusal.
According to The Times of India, New Delhi had refused to sign the document after it omitted a reference to the Pahalgam incident.
On April 22, gunmen launched a deadly assault in Pahalgam, a popular tourist destination in Indian-Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
The attackers opened fire on a group of visitors, killing at least 26 people and injuring 17 others.
