SAINT PETERSBURG, June 7: Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Pakistan on Friday to put an end to “terrorist activities” directed against India and Kashmir.

“If we consider the roots of terrorism, we should ask above all Pakistan to put an end to terrorist activities coming from its territory and directed at India and Kashmir,” Putin said at the end of a regional summit here.

The Russian leader also urged the Pakistan government to move swiftly to restore democracy.

“We should do everything so that Pakistan society becomes transparent and democratic,” Putin said at a press conference winding up a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which groups China, Russia and four Central Asian states.

However the Kremlin boss added: “I think President Musharraf is prepared to do this.”

Putin and Chinese President Jiang Zemin and the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrghyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan also used the Saint Petersburg summit on Friday to upgrade the SCO’s status as a security body fighting terrorism and drugs smuggling in Central Asia.

The six presidents signed a charter that effectively transforms the grouping into a fully-fledged international organization with a permanent secretariat based in Beijing.

However, the one-day summit was overshadowed by the stand-off in the Sub-continent, which prompted the SCO leaders to urge Pakistan and India to join the six-nation group.

Putin said on Friday that Russia would “view positively India’s interest in joining the Shanghai organization”, while Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev voiced hope that the SCO “can be a way to solve military problems”.

The Shanghai Group of five Central Asian countries — China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrghyzstan and Tajikistan — set up in 1996 to tackle regional security and economic development, became the SCO when Uzbekistan joined the organization last year.—AFP