Rajnath Singh to visit Tajikistan for SCO Defence Ministers' meet; China & Pak to be there

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is set to leave for Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe on July 26 to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's Defence Ministers conclave. July 29 is expected to be the main day of engagement which includes a collective call on by SCO delegates and Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahmon.

Tajikistan is chair of the grouping which has eight member states namely, Russia, China, India, Pakistan and 4 central Asian countries namely, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan. Dushanbe will hold the SCO heads of state summit between September 16-17.

There exists no confirmation on Rajnath Singh's rendezvous with his counterpart on the sidelines of the SCO meet. Last year, Defence Minister and his Chinese counterpart General Wei Fenghe had met on the sidelines of the SCO meet in Moscow. The meet came against the backdrop of Chinese aggression at Line of Actual Control (LAC) In Eastern Ladakh.

Indian & Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministers met in Tajikistan

The last two months witnessed important SCO meetings under Tajikistan's leadership, including SCO National security advisor's meet and EAMs conclave as well. The SCO Foreign Minister meet earlier this month saw EAM S Jaishankar and Chinese FM Wang Yi holding meetings on the sidelines.

During the meet, the Indian side asserted to the Chinese side that "unilateral change of status quo is not acceptable" and called for "resolving the remaining issues along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh at the earliest" according to the readout by the Ministry of External Affairs.

Also, the Defence Minister of Pakistan has arrived in Dushanbe for the meet and is said to hold meetings with his Tajik, Uzbek, Russian, Chinese counterparts on the sidelines.

Jaishankar concludes his visit to Dushanbe on July 15

S Jaishankar thanked his Tajik counterpart Sirojiddin Muhriddin for his hospitality and consideration. EAM Jaishankar had visited Tajikistan Foreign at the invitation of the Tajik Foreign Ministry to participate in the SCO meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers. Jaishankar attended the meetings and presented India's view on the ongoing situation in Afghanistan. During the address of the SCO foreign ministers contact group on Afghanistan, EAM Jaishankar emphasised the need to ensure that Kabul's neighbours were not "threatened by terrorism, separatism, and extremism". Jaishankar on Twitter stated, "The world is against seizure of power by violence and force. It will not legitimise such actions." He further met his Afghan counterpart Mohammad Haneef Atmar and discussed the situation in the war-torn country.