Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Office on Tuesday shared a photo from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit cropping out several world leaders while putting Sharif in the centre of the image.The original family photograph, taken before a session of the 26th SCO Summit in Bishkek, showed the heads of member states standing together. From left, the photograph featured SCO Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure chief Ularbek Sharsheev.However, the image posted by the Pakistan PMO showed only Xi Jinping, Japarov, Putin, Sharif, Rahmon, Mirziyoyev and Sharsheev.The edited framing keeps Sharif at the centre alongside several prominent leaders, while excluding a number of other participants visible in the original summit photograph.What’s was on the agendaThe 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Leadership Summit focused on strengthening regional cooperation and addressing shared security, economic and geopolitical challenges.The summit, marking the SCO’s 25th anniversary was held in the expanded “SCO Plus” format, bringing together leaders from member, partner and observer countries to discuss wider regional and global issuesWhat PM Modi told SCO summitDuring the summit, PM Modi addressed the SCO summit and called for a united fight against terrorism, saying there could be no “double standards” on the issue.“We must dismantle the entire ecosystem of terrorism–its financing, recruitment, radicalisation, and safe havens,” Modi said, adding that countries which use terrorism as an instrument of policy and provide shelter or support to terrorists must be sent a strong message.PM Modi also called for greater regional cooperation on security, connectivity and economic opportunities, while stressing dialogue and diplomacy as the way forward in addressing conflicts.
