ISLAMABAD
\nPakistan took exception on Wednesday to a joint statement made by the United States and India after the 2+2 ministerial dialogue between them wherein the two countries asked Pakistan to ensure its territory is not used to launch terrorist attacks against another state.
\n\u201cThe gratuitous reference in the statement alluding to some non-existent and dismantled entities betrays misplaced counter-terrorism focus of both countries,\u201d the Foreign Office said in its statement.
\n\u201cIt 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,\u201d the statement added.
\nIt noted that Pakistan had remained a major, proactive, reliable and willing partner of the international community in the global fight against terrorism over the last two decades, adding its sacrifices were widely acknowledged by other countries, \u201cincluding the United States.\u201d
\nThe Foreign Office maintained that Indian insinuations against Pakistan were part of New Delhi\u2019s efforts to conceal \u201cits state-terrorism and brutal atrocities\u201d in Kashmir. \u201cResponsible members of the international community must condemn India\u2019s use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy and the impunity that continues to be associated with it,\u201d the statement continued.
\n\u201cIndia\u2019s terrorism network using the soil of other countries and through supporting UN-designated terrorist organisations, is on record. Failing to take cognisance of this serious situation is tantamount to abdication of international responsibility.\u201d
\nIt added: \u201cOur concerns and rejection of the unwarranted reference to Pakistan in the US-India Statement have been conveyed to the US side through diplomatic channels.\u201d
\nIndia institutionalised the 2+2 dialogue format with the US, Russia, Japan and Australia in recent years, allowing its foreign and defence ministers to share strategic and security concerns with their counterparts in the four countries.
\nThe latest round of dialogue involving the US state and defense secretaries, Antony J. Blinken and Lloyd J Austin, and Indian external affairs and defense ministers, S Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh, took place in Washington DC on April 11.
\nThe dialogue was also preceded by a virtual meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joseph Biden.
\nThe 2+2 ministerial dialogue statement \u201ccondemned any use of terrorist proxies and cross-border terrorism\u201d while calling for the \u201cperpetrators of the 26\/11 Mumbai attack, and Pathankot attack, to be brought to justice.\u201d
\nIt also called for concerted action against militant entities like Al Qaeda, Daesh, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.
\n\u201cThe Ministers called on Pakistan to take immediate, sustained, and irreversible action to ensure that no territory under its control is used for terrorist attacks,\u201d it added.
\nIndia has frequently accused Pakistan of launching cross-border terrorist attacks, an allegation that governments in Islamabad have strongly denied. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD Pakistan took exception on Wednesday to a joint statement made by the United States and India after the 2+2 ministerial dialogue between them wherein the two countries asked Pakistan to ensure its territory is not used to launch terrorist attacks against another state. \u201cThe gratuitous reference in the statement alluding to some non-existent and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254810,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-254777","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n