Ahead of SCO, Uzbekistan joins India in condemning cross-border terrorism
India and Uzbekistan elevated bilateral relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during a State Visit, issuing a joint statement on wide-ranging cooperation.
The joint statement "unequivocally condemned terrorism, including cross-border terrorism, in all its forms and manifestations," reiterating a "zero tolerance" approach and rejecting any justification for terrorism.
Both countries called for concerted action against terrorist entities, disruption of terrorism-financing networks and safe havens, and accountability for perpetrators, backers, facilitators, and affiliates.
The two sides reaffirmed cooperation under the existing India-Uzbekistan Joint Working Group on Counter-Terrorism and agreed to deepen law-enforcement, intelligence-sharing, and cyber-security cooperation, alongside defence-industrial ties.
The statement came just ahead of the 26th SCO Summit in Bishkek, where counter-terrorism is a standing agenda item.
Global Counter-Terrorism Cooperation Frameworks
No single binding global treaty currently defines and criminalises "terrorism" uniformly; instead, states cooperate through a patchwork of financial, regional, and bilateral mechanisms. India has long pushed for a universal legal instrument, while relying on financial-monitoring bodies and regional structures in the interim.
Key Details
- FATF (Financial Action Task Force): established in 1989 (Paris-based), sets global standards against money laundering and terror financing. It maintains a "grey list" (jurisdictions under increased monitoring for AML/CFT deficiencies) and a "black list" (high-risk jurisdictions). Pakistan has featured on the grey list in the past over terror-financing concerns.
- UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT): proposed by India at the UN General Assembly on 17 December 1996; seeks a universal legal definition of terrorism, denial of safe havens, criminalisation of terror financing, and treating cross-border terrorism as an extraditable offence. It remains in deadlock (unadopted) chiefly due to disagreement over defining terrorism (e.g., exemptions for "national liberation movements" and state actors).
- Bilateral Joint Working Groups on Counter-Terrorism (JWG-CT): India maintains such mechanisms with numerous countries (including Uzbekistan, the US, Russia) for intelligence-sharing and operational coordination outside multilateral fora.
The India-Uzbekistan statement operationalises counter-terror cooperation bilaterally (via the JWG-CT) precisely because a universal instrument like the CCIT remains stalled — illustrating why India relies on a web of bilateral and regional arrangements alongside its long-standing push for a global convention.
SCO's Counter-Terrorism Mandate (SCO-RATS)
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), established in 2001 (evolving from the 1996 "Shanghai Five"), is a Eurasian political, security, and economic bloc. Countering terrorism, separatism, and extremism — termed the "Three Evils" — is a founding mandate, operationalised through a dedicated regional body.
Key Details
- Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS): SCO's permanent counter-terrorism organ, headquartered in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, established under a 2001 SCO agreement. It coordinates intelligence-sharing, joint counter-terror exercises, and maintains a database of individuals/organisations linked to terrorism, separatism, and extremism among member states.
- SCO membership (as of 2026): China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Iran (joined 2023), plus Belarus (joined 2024); India became a full member in 2017.
- India chairs/participates in RATS working mechanisms and has previously flagged cross-border terrorism concerns at SCO fora, including references to Pakistan-based groups.
Uzbekistan hosting RATS headquarters gives the India-Uzbekistan counter-terrorism statement added salience — the bilateral condemnation dovetails with the SCO's own institutional machinery against terrorism, reinforced just ahead of the SCO Summit in Bishkek where such language is typically echoed multilaterally.
- SCO founding: 2001 (Shanghai); RATS established 2001, headquartered in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
- India became a full SCO member in 2017 (along with Pakistan); Iran joined 2023, Belarus 2024.
- India's CCIT proposal at the UN: tabled 17 December 1996; still unadopted as of 2026.
- FATF established 1989; maintains "grey list" and "black list" of jurisdictions on AML/CFT compliance.
- The 26th SCO Summit was held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, shortly after the India-Uzbekistan joint statement (31 August-1 September 2026).