Beijing (TDI): National Security Advisor of Pakistan, Lt Gen Muhammad Asim Malik attended the 20th Meeting of Secretaries of Security Councils (MSSC) of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Beijing, China.Â
The meeting took place from June 23-24, 2025 and brought together the national security senior officials from all member states to discuss regional security cooperation. The 21st Meeting of Secretaries of Security Councils of SCO member states will be held in Kyrgyzstan.
Other notable appearances at the meeting included the SCO Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev and Director of the Executive Committee of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), Ularbek Sharsheev.Â
This was followed by the SCO Defense Ministers Meeting in Qingdao on Wednesday, led by the Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun. Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khwaja Asif also participated and had an individual meeting with the Chinese counterpart prior the Wednesday’s session.
These meetings are the lead up to the SCO annual Summit which China will host in Tianjin in the autumn.
Read More:Â China Hosts SCO Defense Summit Amid Global Tensions
More recent reports suggest that Indian Defense Minister, Rajnat Singh, refused to sign the joint declaration of the defense meeting as the document acknowledges staged instability and terrorism in Balochistan.Â
Pakistan has long maintained that Balochistan’s unrest is caused by Indian involvement. The issue also surfaced during the MSSC meeting when Indian NSA called out “double standards on terrorism. To this, Pakistan’s NSA replied by mentioning credible evidence of India propelling terrorism in Balochistan.Â
While India refused to sign the joint communique, the rest of the SCO members including China, Russia, Iran, and the Central Asian states endorsed it.Â
SCO is a regional alliance established in 2001, focusing on security, political, and economic cooperation. Its anti-terrorism framework makes it a very important multilateral organization. Another significant institution under SCO is the Security Council, which coordinates policies among security and defense agencies of its members.Â
The member states are China, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus.Â
An IR student whose interest lies in diplomacy and current affairs and a part time debater
