ISLAMABAD, October 12 — Representing the Government of India at the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads of Government (CHG) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the Union External Affairs Minister delivered an uncompromising message on counter-terrorism, upholding territorial integrity, and non-discriminatory transit rights across Eurasia.
Addressing counterparts from the ten member states, the Indian delegation stressed that sustainable regional connectivity corridors must strictly respect sovereign borders and adhere to international law, reiterating India's longstanding objection to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) traversing sovereign Indian territory in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The Minister reaffirmed that mutual trust cannot flourish alongside cross-border terrorism and state-sponsored extremism.
To unlock viable economic corridors for landlocked Central Asian republics without creating debt dependencies, India proposed leveraging the deep-water Chabahar Port in Iran and the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), alongside joint operational collaboration through the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS, Tashkent).
The institutional charter of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (Secretariat in Beijing, RATS in Tashkent), geopolitical dynamics of CPEC (a flagship \$62 billion Belt and Road Initiative artery terminating at Gwadar), the INSTC multimodal freight corridor, and India's sovereign territorial stance on Pakistan-occupied Kashmir are core themes across UPSC Civil Services (GS-II: International Relations & Regional Security).