Leaders from China-Russia-backed international organization meet in Pakistan Boston 25 News [Video]

ISLAMABAD — (AP) — Leaders and top officials from an international group founded to counter Western alliances met in Pakistan’s capital on Wednesday and called for enhanced cooperation in areas including security, trade, and health. They also called for boosting people-to-people contact and minimizing the impacts of climate change.

The meeting of the China- and Russia-founded Shanghai Cooperation Organization was held amid tight security in Islamabad, and attended by leaders including Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and the prime ministers of Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Mongolia.

SCO was founded in 2001 by China and Russia to counter Western alliances. Its members include Iran, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The capital was virtually locked down as Pakistan deployed extra police and troops to ensure security, making it difficult even for ambulances to get around.

The SCO meetings came more than a week after two Chinese engineers were killed in a suicide …