The Shanghai Cooperation
Organization, as a major regional organisation includes China, Russia and four
Central Asian States of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan as its
members and most important regional states as its observers and dialogue
partners. Pakistan, Iran, India, Mongolia and Afghanistan are SCO observer
states and Belarus, Sri Lanka and Turkey are its dialogue partners. Among the
countries associated with the SCO there is great diversity in terms of size,
economic strength and natural resources. It brings together the energy rich
Central Asian States, the rising economic giants like China, major regional
powers like Russia and Pakistan, India and Iran who can provide access for these
countries to world markets and warm waters. SCO also provides a useful forum for
strategic coordination between the two major regional players namely Russia and
China.
The principles of SCO are very attractive, specially for newly independent
states and developing countries of the region who jealously guard their
independence and sovereignty. The SCO‘s charter defines the main purposes of the
organisation as "strengthening mutual trust, good neighborliness and friendship
among member states; developing effective co-operation in political affairs,
economy, trade, science and technology, culture, education, energy, transport
and environmental protection; and working together to maintain regional peace,
security and stability". The charter lists basic principles such as the
sovereign equality of states and the rejection of hegemony and coercion in
international affairs.
SCO is building a region that is harmonious and in keeping with the Shanghai
Spirit that promotes mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation,
respect for diverse civilizations and pursuit of common development. The focus
of the organisation is on issues directly affecting these states. The foremost
is economic development. The SCO also focuses on security challenges termed as
the "three evils": terrorism, separatism and religious extremism. Under the
umbrella of SCO, the Tashkent-based Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) has
been established for this purpose.
Another major area has been regional economic and cultural cooperation
speciallyin energy, transportation and cooperation in tourism, environment
protection and social security. SCO‘s potential role in linking energy surplus
Central Asia with energy deficient South Asia can be a major challenge.
SCO as an institution is evolving. Since the Tashkent Summit of 2009 where SCO
adopted its rules for acceptance of new members, the organisation has come a
long way in developing its institutional structure. The members have confirmed
the need for greater involvement of the SCO observer states and dialogue
partners in practical cooperation within the framework of the Organisation.
As far as Pakistan is concerned, it has already declared its interest in full
membership. Pakistan was in fact the first observer state to formally apply for
SCO membership. This coincides with our major foreign policy objectives.
Pakistan's aims of curbing extremism and enhancing border security coincide with
SCO‘s charter of activities and since Pakistan is suffering from both these
problems, it would endeavour to gain from the experiences of SCO members to
address the issue. Pakistan is keen to participate in future counter-terrorism
exercises as well as intelligence sharing cooperation.
Sino-Pak agreements on the establishment of the Pakistan-China Economic
Corridor, development of Gwadar Port and Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan,
India (TAPI) Gas pipeline are outstanding examples of regional cooperation in
which Pakistan is actively participating. We are committed to continue our
engagement with SCO as an institution and bilaterally with SCO member states.
Pakistan's full membership will enable it to actively participate in the group's
activities in the region. The policies and programmes of the SCO are in
consonance with Pakistan's long-term objectives. SCO provides a useful forum to
Pakistan to promote peace and stability in the region, contain and eradicate the
menace of terrorism from the region and work with members to build stronger and
more productive relationship in the future.
Pakistan deserves full membership of SCO since it has great potential to help
bring peace in Afghanistan, serve as a trade and energy corridor for the SCO
region and also fight terrorism and drug trafficking for long term stability of
the region. This will further strengthen the capacity of the SCO to handle the
issues of extremism, separatism and terrorism and maintain stability in
Afghanistan and Central Asia.
According to scholars it is being stated that in the post-2014 environment, some
fighting forces would continue to operate in Afghanistan for anti-terrorism and
geopolitical concerns. Thus, in this scenario, regional countries would play a
bigger role in the future of Afghanistan. Among the regional countries, the
triangular relationship among India, Pakistan and Afghanistan would play a key
role in the final resolution of Afghanistan problem. In this backdrop, the SCO
could be promising platform.
Strengthening cooperation in trade, commerce, technology, energy and agriculture
are the areas that SCO members and observer states should keep in focus as they
would help in maintaining stability in the region. The stability of South Asia,
especially Afghanistan, is necessary for China since it does not want to see
chaos in Afghanistan and related spillover effect on the stability of Pakistan.
Since China is willing to contribute in international as well as regional effort
to ensure stability in Afghanistan, Pakistan whould also work in close
coordination with China for bringing peace and stability in Afghanistan.
Financing joint projects in Afghanistan, eliminating SCO trade barriers with
that country and reviving traditional silk route could be the best options for
achieving peace and stability in Afghanistan. There are ample opportunities for
SCO members and observers in Afghanistan for investment not only in mining but
in all other domains. China‘s rail projects might one day integrate Afghanistan,
Tajikistan and Pakistan which will greatly boost regional trade and economic
relations.
In this back drop a comprehensive approach to development and cooperation calls
for a paradigm shift in the approach to international relations, i.e. from the
pursuit of national interest at the cost of others to relationships based on
mutual respect, mutual interest and mutual benefit. SCO claims to be motivated
by this approach to the international order and is therefore poised to play a
leading role in future international relations. In view of regional needs and
potentials, SCO needs to move simultaneously on many fronts to realize the
objectives of long-term, sustainable and multidimensional cooperation. The goal
of optimal all-round regional cooperation can only be realized if both member
and observer states have enhanced opportunities to play active roles. This
demands an expansion, particularly in membership, of the organization. To start
with, SCO should seriously consider making observer states its permanent
members.