BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 6. India’s Ministry of External Affairs is being untruthful at the level of its spokesperson, a diplomatic source told Trend, responding to comments made by Indian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Randhir Jaiswal, who claimed that New Delhi had not blocked Azerbaijan’s membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
The Indian official had alleged that Azerbaijan’s accession to the SCO was not approved "due to time constraints". According to the source, however, it was India that blocked Azerbaijan’s membership, with Russia taking the lead role in the process.
"The issue of Azerbaijan’s and Armenia’s SCO membership was under discussion for four to five months, and throughout these talks India consistently opposed Azerbaijan’s accession. Other member states also witnessed that it was India’s initiative that prevented the membership. Now New Delhi is trying to shift responsibility, realizing - with Russia’s behind-the-scenes involvement - that this move ran counter to the principles of multilateral diplomacy and the ‘Shanghai Spirit’. It was also seen as a sign of disrespect toward China, which has been working to expand the SCO. Blocking Azerbaijan’s membership was already a short-sighted move, but attempting to deny it with false statements is just as narrow and cheap," the source said.
The source noted that, until now, Azerbaijan has remained committed to the principles of multilateral diplomacy and has not obstructed resolutions presented by India at the UN General Assembly. However, in response to New Delhi’s hostile stance, this approach will change going forward.
"If India wants to pursue an openly hostile policy in violation of established norms, then all of New Delhi’s resolutions will face a different approach. This includes documents such as the 2014 UNGA resolution on establishing International Yoga Day, which India introduced and Azerbaijan supported. From now on, we will insist that such resolutions be adopted through a vote rather than by consensus. The same approach will apply across all international platforms," the source added.