Sushma Swaraj Refers To Pulwama At Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Meet

Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan): India on Wednesday spoke about the Pulwama terror attack at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) here and said the subsequent terror strikes in neighbouring Sri Lanka had made it more determined to fight the scourge firmly. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, while attending the SCO Foreign Ministers’s conference, said that India’s wounds of the February 14 Pulwama attack were “still raw”.

“Our heart goes out to our brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka, who have recently witnessed the ghastly act of terrorism. Our wounds of Pulwama attack were still raw and the news from the neighbourhood has made us more determined to fight firmly and resolutely against this menace,” she said. The SCO is an eight-member organisation comprising India, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikstan and Pakistan.

In her address, Swaraj stressed the need for strengthening cooperation within the SCO framework for comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. “We would be open to ideas on how we can make the work of RATS (Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure) more effective in this regard,” she said. Swaraj also highlighted India’s commitment to the development of Afghanistan. “India stands committed to any process, which can help Afghanistan emerge as a united, peaceful, secure, stable, inclusive and economically vibrant nation with guaranteed gender and human rights,” she said. “We also operationalised air freight corridors between Kabul and Kandahar and New Delhi and Mumbai in 2017. (IANS)

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