(Karachi) As part of measures to counter terrorism and extremism, India will participate in joint exercise being held in Pakistan under the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), India Today reported on Monday.

As per details, the drills will be held in Pabbi and the decision to hold the joint exercise “Pabbi-Anti-terror-2021” was announced during the 36th meeting of the Council of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on March 18.

Besides India, other SCO states including China and Russia will also send their contingents to take part in the drills.

The joint exercise will strengthen mutual confidence, interoperability and enable sharing of best practices among armed forces of the SCO nations.

“Decisions have been made to improve cooperation between the competent authorities of the SCO member states in identifying and suppressing channels that finance terrorist activities,” China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported, quoting a RATS statement.

As part of the SCO initiatives, the SCO Peace Mission Exercise is conducted biennially for the SCO member states.

The SCO was established in Shanghai in 2001, with China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as founding members. It expanded to include India and Pakistan in 2017.