'No more whitewashing': S Jaishankar at SCO meet after Delhi terror blast

Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of Government meeting in Russia, said the world must show “zero tolerance” towards terrorism and stop offering excuses or selective silence.

“There can be no justification, no looking away and no whitewashing,” he said, stressing that India would not hesitate to defend its citizens.

Jaishankar reminded the grouping that the SCO was created to fight terrorism, separatism and extremism- threats that, he warned, have only grown more dangerous over time.

The Council of Heads of Government, the SCO’s second-most important body, meets annually to discuss trade, economic cooperation and the organisation’s budget. The last CHG meeting was held in Pakistan in 2024.

The SCO was founded in 2001 by Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan joined in 2017, while Iran became a permanent member at an India-hosted summit in 2023.

Meanwhile, back home, Union Home Minister Amit Shah vowed that those responsible for the Red Fort blast would be hunted down “even from hell” and punished.

Investigators have described the explosion as the work of a highly skilled “white-collar” terror network allegedly run by a group of radicalised doctors uncovered by Jammu and Kashmir Police.

The car bomb was driven by Dr Umar Mohammad, an assistant professor of general medicine at Al Falah University in Faridabad, who the NIA says acted as a suicide bomber.

The agency has also arrested Jasir Bilal Wani from Srinagar, calling him an “active co-conspirator” who provided technical expertise, including drone modifications and attempts to build improvised rockets, ahead of the attack.

The Union Cabinet has already condemned the incident as a “heinous terror attack,” as the investigation expands across multiple states.