Pak seethes at India-US statement asking it to rein in terror

Pakistan is seething at a strong India-US joint statement asking it to take irreversible action to ensure its territory is not used as a launch pad for terrorist attacks, with its foreign ministry calling the document “unwarranted and misleading”.

“We take strong exception to Pakistan-related assertions made in the selective and one-sided Joint Statement, devoid of meeting the objectivity criteria,” the country’s foreign office said in a statement on Wednesday.

The joint statement issued on Tuesday in New Delhi after the 2+2 ministerial dialogue between foreign and defence ministers of India and the US reiterated their call for Pakistan “to take irreversible action to ensure its territory is not used for terror attacks and to speedily prosecute the perpetrators and planners of the attacks in Mumbai, Uri and Pathankot.”

The statement , issued after talks between external affairs minister S Jaishankar and defence minister Rajnath Singh and their US counterparts Mike Pompeo and Mark Esper, also called for “concerted action” against terrorist networks such as al-Qaeda, Islamic State and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Six American citizens were among the 166 people killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks carried out by a 10-member LeT team from Pakistan. The 2016 Uri attack and the Pathankot attack in 2016 were blamed on Pakistan-based JeM.

In its response on Wednesday, a Pakistan foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement that failing to take cognizance of the “grave humanitarian and human rights situation” in Kashmir is “tantamount to abdication of international responsibility.”

it said “gratuitous and self-serving references” in joint statements “cannot mask the fact that it is India that continues to be the nerve centre of state-terrorism, besides being a safe haven for the perpetrators of hate crimes against Muslims and Islamophobia.”

It claimed that the international community “recognizes Pakistan’s efforts, sacrifices and success in the fight against terrorism.”

“As a country that has suffered the most from cross-border terrorism, Pakistan would continue to contribute constructively to regional and global efforts to promote peace and stability in the region.

“It is important that partner countries take an objective view of the issues of peace and security in South Asia and refrain from endorsing positions that are one-sided and divorced from ground realities,” it added.