BEIJING – A large-scale anti-terrorism military exercise of the ShanghaiCooperation Organization (SCO), codenamed “Peace Mission”, will be held inRussia next month, with all SCO member states planning to take part in it.
It is noteworthy that India and Pakistan, who newly joined theorganization, will both send troops to join the exercise.
This is the first time the two countries have taken part in joint militaryexercise at the same time since their independence, which attracted muchattention, according to an article published by China Military Online here.
The exercise is initiated by the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure ofShanghai Cooperation Organization (RATS SCO) with the goal of responding toterrorism and extremism by expanding cooperation among member statesAt present, India and Pakistan have clearly expressed their intention tosend troops to take part in the exercise.
According to Indian official sources, India will send about 200 Army andAir Force personnel to participate in this exercise.
India and Pakistan have been hostile to each other for many years. In thepast decade, crossfire incidents occurred almost every week along Kashmir’sLine of Control. Therefore, as India and Pakistan’s first joint militaryexercise after their independence, this exercise will be of certainsignificance to the alleviation of the tension on the India-Pakistan border.
Some military observers pointed out that conflicts have been commonplacebetween India and Pakistan for a long time. Numerous exchange mechanismsbetween the two countries have been interrupted due to border clashes. TheSCO military exercise can promote positive interactions between the twomilitaries and help to ease tension between the two countries.
Although this is the first time that India and Pakistan have taken part ina joint military exercise since their independence, in fact, the militariesof the two countries have cooperated many times in United Nations (UN)peacekeeping missions.
According to data from the database of UN peacekeeping operations, Indiaand Pakistan have been important troop contributors to UN missions, and inthe past few decades, the two countries have completed 28 missions together.In 2005, India and Pakistan were taken in as observer states of the SCO.The year of 2017 witnessed the two countries’ inclusion as full members ofthe SCO, which marked the organization’s first expansion. – APP