External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Friday underscored India’s firm objection to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) defence ministers’ communiqué, calling the removal of any reference to terrorism “unacceptable” to India.

He noted that during discussions on the outcome document, "one country - you can guess which one - said 'no, we don't want reference to that'," highlighting how the omission directly clashed with the SCO’s core purpose of counterterrorism cooperation. He supported Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s refusal to sign the draft, reinforcing that without explicit wording on terrorism, India would not endorse it.

The draft statement reportedly excluded mention of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in Kashmir, even as it included references to militant activity in Balochistan, which many saw as politically tilted. As a result, the SCO failed to publish a joint communique - marking a rare diplomatic rift within the bloc.

Jaishankar emphasized that terrorism must be unequivocally condemned and that any attempt to dilute this stance undermines the integrity of the SCO’s objectives.