Terrorism is the most serious threat to international peace: Rajnath Singh

He addresses meeting of SCO Defence Ministers at Dushanbe.

Stating that the geo-strategic location of India makes it both a Eurasian land power as well as a stakeholder in the Indo-Pacific, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday termed terrorism the most serious threat to international peace and security, while also cautioning against non-traditional security threats in the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Any act of terror and support to such acts, including cross border terrorism, committed by whomsoever, wherever and for whatever motives, is a crime against humanity,” Mr. Singh said addressing the Defence Ministers’ meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) at Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Through 1990s and later, Tajik people made great sacrifices to defeat fundamentalism within its territory and to uphold peace and stability in the region, Mr. Singh said. It must be recognised that “without those sacrifices and without constructive efforts by Central Asian Republics with support from the Russian Federation, situation here could have been very different... Such recognition is all the more important, as instability and violent extremism threaten us all over again in the region.”