India, Pakistan to take part in joint anti-terror drill in Russia

In a first, the militaries of India and Pakistan will be part of a mega anti-terror drill being organised by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Russia next month.

Around 200 Army and Air Force personnel from India will take part in the drill aimed to expand cooperation among the member countries to deal with terrorism and extremism.

All the SCO member countries including Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, will participate in the exercise scheduled from August 20-29 at Chelyabinsk city in west-central Russia, according to news agency PTI.

“The broad objective of the exercise is to boost cooperation among the SCO countries to deal with the challenge of terrorism and extremism,” the agency quoted a military official as saying.

The drill, “Peace Mission”, would the first since independence when the militaries of the two nations will be part of a joint drill. However, the armies of India and Pakistan have worked together in UN peacekeeping missions.

The drill take place nearly three months after the Qingdao plenary of the SCO resolved to deepen cooperation among their militaries to deal with threats of terrorism, extremism and separatism.