India refused to associate itself with a statement of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), in which this week, Israel’s military attacks on Iran were condemned by Israel this week, after which it was demanding a ceasefire in Gaza after voting on the United Nations resolution. Like India, Iran is also a member of the Eurasian Security Group in which China and Russia play a lead role and Pakistan is also a member.The organization condemned the Israeli attack, saying that “such aggressive action against civil goals, including energy and transport infrastructure, violate the United Nations’ Charter and International Law, creating serious risks to Iran’s sovereignty and global peace. However, India said on Saturday that it was not a part of the discussions that led to the SCO statement.Recalling its statement on Friday for restraint, the Government of India urged that dialogue and diplomacy should be used to work towards de-size and to outline the need of the international community to work in that direction. It also recalled the conversation of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar with his Iranian counterpart on Friday, expressed the concerns of the international community and urged to avoid any escalatry action. “The overall position of India, as stated above, was informed to other SCO members. Keeping this in mind, India did not participate in the discussion on the above SCO statement,” the Government of India said, rejecting Israel’s SCO condemnation.While India separated itself from Israel’s SCO condemnation, last year it signed a BRIC statement criticizing Israel for its works in Gaza. However, unlike BRICS, Pakistan is a member of the SCO and India may not be seen as joining hands with a traditional enemy to condemn a reliable partner in Israel.This is not the first time India has broken the rank with SCO, but so far any Indian rejection of group joint statements or initiatives was related to concerns about China. India has not supported China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in SCO joint statements and at the 2023 summit, the Government of India excluded the organization’s economic development strategy for 2030 which was more linked to Chinese interests and policies.India otherwise looks at the SCO as an important platform to promote trade and investment, promote connectivity, and also to address the situation in Afghanistan with other stakeholders in anti -terrorism cooperation, prevention of bigotry and equality. In the case of Iran, India officially continues to cherish its “civilized relations” with the country, supporting cooperation in areas such as trade, connectivity and anti -terrorism.India’s strong defense and security cooperation with Israel was recently evident in successful Indian use of Israeli drones and air defense systems in a conflict with Pakistan. However, while Israel sees Iran as a leading supporter of terrorism, India believes it is Pakistan which is a fountain of global terrorism. India was one of the 19 countries, refraining from voting on the proposal of the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, which criticized the opposition parties and demanded an unconditional and permanent ceasefire.
