India has blocked the adoption of a joint communique at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) defence ministers’ meeting in Qingdao, China, on June 26, after its concerns over cross-border terrorism were not included in the draft.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh declined to endorse the statement, resulting in the SCO conclave ending without a consensus document—a necessity under the grouping’s consensus-based decision-making framework.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randeep Jaiswal confirmed at a press briefing that India had pushed for explicit references to terrorism, but this was reportedly opposed by one of the member countries.

“India wanted concerns on terrorism reflected in the document which was not acceptable to one particular country and therefore the statement was not adopted,” Jaiswal said.

Addressing the SCO summit, Singh made a direct call for unity in tackling terrorism and criticised the existence of “double standards.”

Without naming Pakistan, he said that some countries were using cross-border terrorism as a tool of state policy and offering sanctuary to terrorists.

He said the region’s biggest challenges stemmed from “peace, security and trust-deficit,” with their root causes lying in “increasing radicalisation, extremism and terrorism.”

The defence minister reiterated that peace and terrorism could not co-exist and warned of the threat posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to non-state actors and terror groups.

“Dealing with these challenges requires decisive action, and we must unite in our fight against these evils for our collective safety and securit,” he said.

In reference to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, Singh alleged the assault bore similarities with earlier attacks by Lashkar-e-Taiba. He cited India’s Operation Sindoor as a demonstration of its zero-tolerance policy on terrorism.

“We have shown that epicentres of terrorism are no longer safe and we will not hesitate to target them,” he said.

India’s effort to forge a global consensus on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism has faced headwinds recently.

Pakistan’s permanent representative currently chairs the UN Security Council’s 1988 Sanctions Committee on the Taliban and a Pakistani diplomat has been appointed vice-chair of the 1373 Counter-Terrorism Committee.

In a further setback to India’s diplomatic narrative, US Central Command chief General Michael Kurilla recently praised Pakistan as “a phenomenal partner in the counter-terrorism world.”

The SCO currently comprises China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. China, which holds the 2025 chairmanship, has themed the year’s activities under “Upholding the Shanghai Spirit: SCO on the Move.”