A Shanghai Cooperation Organization heads of government meeting in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, on October 20 was shaping up as another routine, bland affair. That is until India’s defense minister, Rajnath Singh, tossed some pointed barbs at Pakistani and Chinese officials in attendance.
The SCO is primarily an organization designed to promote security. But according to an SCO secretariat statement, the Dushanbe gathering focused on measures to enhance commerce and connectivity, adopting a Program of Multilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation.
Originally envisioned in the early 2000s as a vehicle to expand China’s security role on its western flank in Central Asia, the group subsequently expanded into South Asia, with India and Pakistan joining just under a decade ago.
The Dushanbe meeting served as a reminder that the inclusion of the two bitter South Asian rivals can unsettle efforts to project organizational cohesion.
Addressing the gathering, Singh did not single out Pakistan and China by name, but he left little doubt about who he was talking about. At one point, assailed “double standards” on terrorism.
“There can be no justification for terrorism … and no place for those who finance, support, or provide safe havens to terrorists,” Singh said.
India and Pakistan engaged in armed clashes in May of 2025, sparked by a militant attack in an Indian-administered area of disputed Kashmir. Indian officials accused Pakistan of sheltering the militants who carried out the attack. Since then, bilateral tension has remained high. At the same time, Chinese-Pakistani military cooperation has emerged as a source of rising concern for India.
New Delhi is also rankled by Chinese-Pakistan cooperation to develop a trade route traversing disputed areas of Kashmir, connecting western China to the Beijing operated, Pakistani port of Gwadar. That route threatens to compete for business with an Indian-supported north-south trade route that is centered on the Iranian port of Chabahar. Both routes are subject to concerns about their economic viability.
“Connectivity must be based on consultation and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries,” Singh said, inferring that the Chinese-Pakistani economic corridor infringes on what India considers to be its territory.