And finally, it has taken place. For the first time ever, India & Pakistan have sent their troops to combat anti-terrorism exercise.
India and Pakistan defence forces are taking part in an anti-terrorism drill for the first time, organized by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Russia.
The aim of the drill is to strengthen ties and cooperation between member countries to deal with growing terrorism. India became a full member of the cooperation in June 2017 and it is the first time the country is participating in the drill since it became a full-fledged part of the SCO.
The joint exercise is being conducted from August 22 to August 29 at Chebarkul, Russia. The SCO Peace Mission Exercise is conducted biennially for the SCO member states.
At least 3,000 soldiers from China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, India and Pakistan are participating in the drill, according to the Chinese media reports.
Ten representatives from Uzbekistan will serve as observers
The Indian contingent of 200 personnel is primarily composed of troops from infantry and affiliated arms and services, along with the Indian Air Force. The contingent has been put through a strenuous training schedule which includes firing, heliborne operations, combat conditioning, tactical operations and house intervention drills, according to curtain raiser of the exercise released by the Ministry of Defence in New Delhi.
READ ALSO: Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad filed charge sheet against 32-year-old
The joint exercise will strengthen mutual confidence, interoperability and enable sharing of best practices among armed forces of the SCO nations.
Sun Zhuangzhi, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Peace Mission 2018 will also greatly improve military and political mutual trust among SCO countries, especially between India and Pakistan.
“It’s a rare opportunity for Pakistan and India, which have long been involved in military conflict, to enhance military exchanges and trust. This could improve regional stability,” Sun said.
The Peace Mission 2018 also created a historic chance for four major military powers in Eurasia — China, Russia, Pakistan and India — to participate in the same military drill, Sun said.
The previous SCO counter-terrorism drills were mainly limited to Central Asian nations, the Chinese media said.
But due to the entry of India and Pakistan, the SCO’s counter-terrorism mission has expanded to South Asia, said Li Wei, a counter-terrorism expert at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations in Beijing.
“The effective counter-terrorism cooperation among SCO countries has greatly undermined terrorist groups in Central Asia in recent years, and it’s expected that this effective cooperation will also boost stability in South Asia, a region facing a more complicated counter-terrorism situation with a variety of active terrorist groups,” Li said.
Li said future counter-terrorism drills among SCO countries have to come up with new drills on targeting terrorist groups in South Asia. He suggested that the SCO further expand to include Afghanistan, which is currently an observer country, to strengthen counter-terrorism efforts in South Asia.
Post Your Comments