Friday, July 1 2005 15:11 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Beijing: With India and Pakistan all set to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a top official of the grouping today (July 1, 2005) said that the differences between the two nations will not destabilise the regional body but would boost its fight against terrorism, extremism and separatism.

The upcoming Summit meeting of the SCO in Kazakhstan capital Astana would make an "affirmative decision" on the observer status application of India, Iran and Pakistan, Secretary-General of the Beijing-based SCO, Zhang Deguang told reporters in Beijing.

At the June 3-4 meeting in Astana, the SCO Foreign Ministers agreed to recommend observer status to India, Iran and Pakistan, he said.

"At the SCO Summit on July 5, the issue would be settled in an affirmative way," Zhang said on the application of India, Iran and Pakistan to join the SCO, which currently groups China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Mongolia was admitted as an observer in 2004.

Zhang said differences between India and Pakistan, including on the Kashmir issue would not affect the working of the SCO, which was founded in 2001 in the east Chinese metropolis, Shanghai.

He said member states of the SCO had conducted a study whether granting observer status to India and Pakistan would affect the working of the organisation and they reached the conclusion that it will not.

Noting that relations between New Delhi and Islamabad had improved significantly in recent times, Zhang said their membership in the SCO would greatly boost the joint fight against the three evil forces - terrorists, extremists and separatists - which posed the greatest threat to countries in Central Asia.

Zhang, a former Chinese Ambassador to Russia, hoped that India and Pakistan would resolve their differences through dialogues and discussions and their SCO observer status would be further conducive to ease their differences.

"SCO welcomes the continued improvement in India-Pakistan relations," he said while hoping that the two countries would address their differences through talks and have good-neighbourly relations.

At the same time, Zhang stressed that SCO will not interfere in the bilateral disputes of member-States.

Asked whether the SCO has invited Indian leaders or top officials to attend the Summit in Astana, Zhang said that the host, Kazakhstan has sent invitations to India, Iran and Pakistan but he did not have a clear answer on who would represent the three countries at the meeting.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to attend the SCO Summit, which is expected to come out with a political declaration, which would take into consideration the recent developments in Central Asia, he said.

The leaders will have in-depth talks on regional and international situations and will especially address the recent events in some Central Asian countries, including Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan which has attracted a lot of international attention, he said.