The SCO Summit 2026 became an important talking point for India and Pakistan after three developments attracted attention: The Prime Minister’s strong message against terrorism, the Prime Minister of Pakistan’s remarks on Indus Waters Treaty and a controversial photo of Modi in which he was cut out, have been an important talking point for India and Pakistan as they prepare for the SCO Summit 2026.
The meeting was held in Bishkek, Kazakhstan and attended by the leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
The meeting was supposed to be dedicated to regional cooperation and security but the India-Pakistan angle soon became one of the biggest stories of the meeting.
To understand what happened it is necessary to first understand what the SCO is.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a body of nations which collaborate on topics like security, terrorism, trade, connectivity and regional development.
The organisation became fully fledged with India and Pakistan as members in 2017.
The core countries consist of:
The annual SCO summit provides leaders with the chance to get together and talk about concerns in the region.
But, for India and Pakistan, these meetings are also crucial as both have a number of unresolved issues.
This year at the summit it happened.
In his address to the SCO Summit, PM Modi’s key message was on the issue of terrorism.
He has said that terrorism is a real danger to regional and global peace and has urged the countries to act decisively on the whole structure that facilitates terrorism.
Modi didn’t use the word Pakistan in his address. But his comments came at a time when the PM of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, was sitting with the heads of the five countries of the SCO, which in the context of India-Pakistan relations hold special importance.
Modi’s message, in the simplest of terms, was that terrorism should not be a means to political and strategic ends.
He appealed to take action against various sections of the terrorist network as follows:
He also emphasized that nations should not have “dual standards” to apply in their terror countermeasures.
Tension between India and Pakistan has been an issue for many years and one of the major causes of tension has been the issue of terrorism.
India has made allegations of cross border terrorism against Pakistan which India denies.India has repeatedly accused Pakistan of sponsoring cross border terrorism which Pakistan denies.
Modi’s words were, thus, viewed as a firm message at the countries that help or harbour terrorists, though he did not specifically refer to Pakistan.
It was also because the country was chairing the SCO for the first time and it was to be handed over to Pakistan.
Terrorism was a big component of Modi’s speech, but another delicate topic between India and Pakistan was water which was Shehbaz Sharif’s.
In his speech, Sharif touched upon the issue of Indus Waters Treaty and the fact that water should not be used as a weapon and nor should it be a tool for political pressure.
If you don’t know about the subject, the first question is easy:
Indus Waters Treaty, 1960: It is an agreement for water sharing done by India and Pakistan.
It lays down guidelines for utilization of the waters of Indus river system by the two countries.
The agreement is very significant as it is essential for agriculture, drinking water and many others depend on these rivers and are relied upon by millions of people.
The treaty has faced wars and years of strained relations between India and Pakistan and owing to this, it is one of the most significant treaties between the two nations.
In the wake of the attack in 1925 in Pahalgam and the bad sentiments between the two countries, the treaty has been put under a serious strain.
Following the attack, India kept the treaty on hold, and Pakistan has insisted that it be respected.
The battle for the treaty has recently grown more complex, as an international arbitration body in the Hague ruled on the treaty.
India had thrown its weight against the impartiality of the arbitration process and asserted that its decision would not be affected by the verdict.
Hence, Sharif’s remarks at the SCO Summit were of importance.
He was conveying the message of Pakistan using the big international platform that water is not meant to become a political issue.
Water played a crucial role in the region and countries must abide by accord on shared water, Sharif said.
“His standard statement was:
Water should be used for people, for agriculture and development and not as a tool in political conflicts.
The issue is pertinent to Pakistan as agriculture and food security is heavily reliant on water availability in the Indus river system.
According to Reuters, the river system irrigates a big portion in Pakistan’s agricultural land.
It was at this juncture that the SCO Summit proved to be a fascinating event for India and Pakistan.
Leaders of both countries were discussing regional peace and security but focused on different issues.
PM Modi’s message
Terrorism can only be dealt with jointly.
Shehbaz Sharif’s message
The use of shared water cannot be used as a means of political pressure.
These are both related closely to the strained Indo-Pak relations.
But there was one other surprise that quickly made it to the top of social media conversation.
A photo of the SCO leaders was taken after the speeches were delivered and caught the eye of the Internet.
The original image featured numerous leaders, such as PM Narendra Modi and Shehbaz Sharif, standing together.
The version which was made available by the Prime Minister’s Office in Pakistan, however, had been cropped.
In the edited version, the image had been cropped to cut out PM Modi and several other leaders from the picture and Sharif was positioned closer to the centre.
This led to some questions.
There was no official explanation as to why the crop was being performed in the incident reports.
It was clear that Modi was in the original picture and Pakistan’s PMO released the image without him.
The Indian Prime Minister’s Office released the complete image of the photograph, which clearly shows the difference.
The unexpected edit immediately came up in the middle of the already tense India-Pakistan relations.
Avoiding this social media mess is a seemingly trivial concern at first blush.
But a formal photo of the group at an international summit is symbolic.
These photos are intended to depict leaders from various countries together.
In this instance however, the edited version altered the group’s look.
The photograph stood out particularly well due to:
This was in the midst of an already strained India-Pakistan relationship.
The debate was soon shared on social media and news outlets.
It wasn’t all bad news in the story.
Shehbaz Sharif later posted the complete version of the photo, which also featured PM Modi and other leaders not included in the earlier photo.
This kind of thing helped to clear up the original image and garnered a lot of attention but the controversy had been brought up.
The photo was taken during a period where India and Pakistan were sending a brisk message to each other in the summit.
Consider the following sequence:
First: PM Modi discussed Terrorism.
Then: Shehbaz Sharif spoke about IWT.
Following the photo: A group picture of the PMO of Pakistan revealed that it had cropped out the PM, Modi.
In such a way, the picture-editing error was much more interesting for the public than a standard photo-editing error.
While India-Pakistan developments were much on the agenda, the SCO Summit was quite wide-ranging.
The organisation also put up the following issues for discussion:
PM Modi also discussed the importance of deepening between SCO countries connectivity and cooperation. He said that the cooperation should be pursued to provide new opportunities for enterprises, youth and the general public in the region.
Therefore, the summit was not just a meeting between India and Pakistan; it was a meeting between two countries.
This was a much bigger international event, during which both countries and other great powers were putting their views forward.
The SCO is a forum for India to interact with China, Russia and the Central Asian countries.
The organisation can be used for India to discuss:
It also gives India the opportunity to continue a dialogue with countries that it might disagree with.
The SCO is also of significance for Pakistan.
Pakistan was in the process of assuming the rotating chairmanship of the organisation and is believed to host next leaders’ summit.
This will offer Islamabad an opportunity to have a greater say in shaping the agenda of the organisation.
That is an even more important presence by both Modi and Sharif at the summit.
What impact does this have on India-Pakistan relations?
India-Pakistan resolution of differences is nothing to do with the events at the SCO Summit.
Indeed, the reverse story might be closer to the truth.
The summit showed that the two countries continue to disagree over major issues such as:
India desires more robust response from the international community to terrorist groups and countries that support them.
The Indus Waters Treaty must be safeguarded and Pakistan has called on it to be treated as a negotiating tool rather than a source of political pressure.
The two countries are still in the process of presenting their views to the international community at various forums.
The group photo that sparked controversy demonstrated the power of even diplomatic images serving as fodder for the political debate.
The most significant part of the story isn’t really the picture.
The bigger problem is that of terrorism and water is one of the two big issues of contention between India and Pakistan.
The SCO Summit was the occasion where both leaders were able to deliver their views in front of other regional powers.
Modi’s message was on security and terrorism.
Sharif’s message was on “Water” and “Indus Water Treaty”.
The photo was then an extra visual and very public aspect of the political tension.
While the SCO Summit 2026 was called to foster cooperation between the countries, the meeting also underlined that India and Pakistan have been divided in their opinions.
PM Narendra Modi urged for a more intense response to terrorism and cautioned against using terrorism as a strategy.
Shehbaz Sharif, on the other hand, brought up the Indus Waters Treaty and said “water should never be used as a political weapon”.
Then a cropped version of the group photo was released again, again causing a stir after PM Modi and other leaders were cut off from the picture by Pakistan’s PMO. The complete photo was subsequently released by Sharif.
One mountain had connected two leaders but both their messages indicated that the terrorism and water issues have a lot of distance to cover between India and Pakistan, and so do the regional security concerns.
Sometimes, as the controversial photograph revealed, a single photograph can be the tip of a large diplomatic ice-berg.
The SCO Summit is a meeting of leaders from countries belonging to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. They discuss issues such as security, terrorism, trade and regional cooperation.
PM Modi called for stronger action against terrorism and said countries should dismantle terrorist financing, recruitment, radicalisation and safe havens.
It is a 1960 water-sharing agreement between India and Pakistan that sets rules for the use of the Indus river system.
Sharif raised the Indus Waters Treaty dispute and said shared water resources should not be used as a weapon or political pressure
A version shared by Pakistan’s PMO cropped PM Modi and several other leaders from the group photograph, while Sharif appeared more centrally placed. Sharif later shared the full photograph
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