New Delhi: India is set to take part in a multilateral anti-terrorism military exercise in Russia next month that will also involve the participation of Pakistan and China.
Defence sources said the exercise, an initiative under the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), is set to be held from 10-21 September at Orenburg in Russia.
The SCO is an intergovernmental organisation set up in 2001. Its main goals include promoting member-states’ cooperation in “politics, trade, the economy, research, technology and culture, as well as in education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental protection, and other areas”.
India and Pakistan became full members of the SCO in 2017.
The exercise, which comes amid increased tension between India and Pakistan over Article 370, will also involve Iran, an SCO observer state.
The theme of the exercise is ‘employment of forces for countering intentional terrorism and for proving military security in central Asian region’.
Last year’s SCO exercise marked the first time India and Pakistan participated in drills together.
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Tensions on LoC
The 2019 exercise comes at a time when Pakistan’s Imran Khan administration has warned that the Modi government’s decision to remove Article 370 and bifurcate Jammu & Kashmir into two union territories could culminate in a war.
China, which borders Ladakh, now a union territory separate from J&K, has also issued a strong statement on the decision.
Even though Pakistan and India are set to join hands for the anti-terrorism exercise, tensions at the LoC have increased over the last few days and the Army has been put on high alert.
Lt Gen. Ranbir Singh, the General Officer Commanding in Chief, Northern Command, said Tuesday that Pakistan, over the past few days, had intensified its efforts to increase the presence of terrorists on launchpads along the LoC and push infiltrators into Jammu & Kashmir.
Defence sources said Pakistan is expected to “heat up the LoC” in the coming days and its agencies will “calibrate a terror attack”.
Also read: Security forces say ready to handle violence along LoC, in Kashmir once restrictions ease