New Delhi, June 26 -- India has refused to endorse the joint declaration at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers' meeting in China, citing the exclusion of concerns around terrorism as a key reason.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday revealed that a reference to terrorism-strongly pushed by India-was omitted from the document due to objections from "one particular country", which blocked the consensus needed for adoption.

At a press briefing, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal confirmed that India could not agree to the final declaration, as it failed to address what New Delhi views as a critical regional challenge-terrorism.

"India wanted concerns on terrorism reflected in the document, which was...