Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is a joint venture between 6 countries and was formed on 15th June 2001. Its purpose was to strengthen the relationships between these core members in areas of Political, Economic, Military and security. India became an observer of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in the year 2005 and later officially joined the organisation in the year 2017.

Shanghai cooperation members

There are a total of 8 members in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation:

1. China
2. Kazakhstan
3. Kyrgyzstan
4. Russia
5. Tajikistan 
6. Uzbekistan
7. India
8. Pakistan

India and Pakistan joined as official members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in 2017, while all the other countries are the core members and the founders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

Four more countries, known as observer states, are currently interested in getting full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

1. Afghanistan
2. Belarus
3. Iran 
4. Mongolia

Objectives of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation 

The purpose of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation was mainly to strengthen the bonds among the member countries in areas like Political, Economic, Security and Military alliance.

In the early years of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, its objectives were to fight against regional terrorism, including fighting against local terrorist groups that disrupt the country and its laws. These local terrorists are small-scale terrorists that defy the laws made by the government and try to sabotage them or remove them using illegal practices. 

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation was aimed to fight against regional extremists as well as ethnic separatism. Such groups are a threat to peace in the society, and hence, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation had decided to fight against such groups. 

Regional development was also one of the purposes of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. The organisation provided favourable conditions for trading, provided investments for businesses, improved infrastructures, built industrial parks and helped in improving the standard of living of the people. 

The members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation prevent any movements of terrorists in their countries with the help of border patrol and by sharing information on the terrorists, identifying stolen documents or duplicate copies of them, and carrying out joint research and investigations on the terrorists. 

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation also counters illegal drug trafficking across the member countries.

Milestones achieved 

• By coordinating with the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation members have prevented 20 terrorist attacks that were still in their planning stages. 
• They stopped almost 650 crimes of the terrorists and extremists. 
• They have destroyed 440 training camps of terrorist organisations and captured almost 1700 members of those organisations.
• More than 2700 members of terrorist organisations have been captured, along with their arms and ammunition.
• Total 213 associates of terrorist and extremists were convicted and were sentenced to prison for a long time.
• Total 600 undercover bases of terrorists were located, where 10,000 armed weapons like guns and pistols, 3250 explosive bombs, almost 450,000 ammunition/bullets, along with more than 47.2 tonnes of explosives were discovered. 
• Total 63 tonnes of heroin were seized, and it was proven that the seized drugs were fatal. 
• Total 68 tonnes of precursors were found that were being used to make illegal narcotics.

Impacts on India being a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

India gained cooperation in security, economic, connectivity issues, and energy as a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

India can gain energy supply from one of the largest energy production clubs in the world. This ensures security for India’s energy buyers and sellers from a long-term point of view.

Although joining SCO is beneficial for India, there are a few cons, like the dominant position of China in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation can prove to be problematic for India in certain situations.

Another issue is that Pakistan is also one of the 8 permanent members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. The India-Pakistan rivalry is no secret to the world, and so this can cause conflicts to arise in important discussions within organisation. 

Conclusion

The Shanghai Cooperation is a joint venture between multiple countries such as China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan. India became an official member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in the year 2017. With this membership, India can gain energy supply from one of the largest energy production clubs in the world. However, the presence of Pakistan in this Organisation may cause problems for India as conflicts are bound to arise due to the Indo-Pak rivalry.