India asks SCO anti-terror body to hold Pahalgam attack organisers accountable

India on Wednesday (September 10) asked key Shanghai cooperation organisation or SCO anti terror body to "hold accountable the sponsors, organisers and financiers" of the Pahalgam terror attack. Speaking at the 44thmeeting of Council of Regional Anti Terrorist Structure (RATS) in Cholpon Ata, Kyrgyz Republic, India's deputy National security advisor TV Ravichandran asked member countries to shun double standards and fight terrorism in all its "all forms and manifestations".

The Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) is a permanent organ of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), established to coordinate efforts among member states to combat terrorism, separatism, and extremism, often referred to as the "Three Evils." Headquartered in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, RATS was formalized during a 2002 SCO meeting in Saint Petersburg and became operational in 2004. Its primary role is to enhance collective security through intelligence sharing, counterterrorism coordination, and joint initiatives.

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The RATS meeting earlier on Wednesday, strongly condemning the Pahalgam terror attack. The body also endorsed the statement on the condemnation of Pahalgam Terror Attack in the Tianjin Declaration signed earlier this month during the SCO Summit in China. SCO is the latest global grouping to condemn the terror attack, after groupings like BRICS, Quad condemned it.

The Pahalgam terror attack was the deadliest attack on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, resulting in the deaths of 26 people, mostly tourists (25 Indians and one Nepali), with many others injured. The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed responsibility for the attack. Terror groups based out of Pakistan, and territories under its occupation have multiple times conducted terror attacks in India in the past. India responded to the Pahalgam terror attack by Operation Sindoor that saw strikes on major terror headquarters in the country.