Pakistan rebuffs US-India joint statement

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday gave a shut-up call simultaneously to India and the United States while categorically rejecting the unwarranted reference in their joint statement issued after the US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue on April 11, 2022, saying this was both malicious and lacked any credibility.

“The gratuitous reference in the statement alluding to some non-existent and dismantled entities betrays misplaced counter-terrorism focus of both countries. It is unfortunate that a bilateral cooperation mechanism is being used to target a third country for political expediency and to mislead public opinion away from the real and emerging terrorism threats”, said the Foreign Office.

The Foreign Office says it has already forwarded its concerns and rejection of the unwarranted reference to Pakistan in the US-India statement to the US side through diplomatic channels. Earlier, in Washington India and the United States had called on Pakistan to take immediate, sustained, and irreversible actions to ensure that no territory under its control is used for terrorist attacks while issuing a joint statement.

This was issued after the fourth India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J Austin.

“Pakistan has remained a major, proactive reliable and willing partner of the international community in the global fight against terrorism over last two decades. Pakistan’s successes and sacrifices in countering terrorism are unparalleled and widely acknowledged by the international community, including the United States. No country in the region has sacrificed more for peace than Pakistan,” added the Foreign Office.

India’s insinuations against Pakistan are in fact a desperate attempt to conceal its state-terrorism and brutal atrocities against the subjugated Kashmiris in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K).

Pakistan has asked responsible members of the international community to condemn India’s use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy and the impunity that continues to be associated with it. India’s terrorism network using the soil of other countries and through supporting UN-designated terrorist organisations is on record. Failing to take cognizance of this serious situation is tantamount to abdication of international responsibility.

”We expect and urge the partner countries to take an objective view of the issues of peace and security in South Asia and refrain from associating themselves with positions that are one-sided, politically motivated, and divorced from ground realities”, said the Foreign Office.