Pakistan rejects Delhi’s terror mantra in joint US-India statement

By projecting itself as ‘terror victim’, India can’t divert attention from gross rights violations in IIOJK, says FO

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan has strongly rejected a reference to Pakistan in the joint statement issued by India and the United States after their 2+2 ministerial dialogue as “unwarranted and misleading”.

The US and India had signed a pact to share sensitive satellite and map data on Tuesday, prompting quick warning from Pakistan that the agreement will have serious repercussions for peace and stability in South Asia.

The annual US-India strategic dialogue was held at a time of heightened tension in the region, with Indian troops confronting Chinese forces on their disputed Himalayan border and deteriorating ties between arch rivals in the region.

In a joint statement issued after the talks held in New Delhi, Indian ministers – Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh – “called on Pakistan to take immediate, sustained and irreversible action to ensure that no territory under its control is used for terrorist attacks, and to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators and planners of all such attacks, including 26/11 Mumbai, Uri, and Pathankot”.

“We reject the Pakistan-specific reference in the joint statement, issued by India and the US after their 2+2 ministerial dialogue, as unwarranted and misleading,” the Foreign Office said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

“We take strong exception to Pakistan-related assertions made in the selective and one-sided joint statement, devoid of meeting the ‘objectivity criteria’. Failing to take cognisance of the grave humanitarian and human rights situation in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK), further aggravated by India’s unilateral and illegal measures of 5 August 2019, is tantamount to abdication of international responsibility,” it maintained.

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 in the region including Occupied Kashmir, besides being a safe haven for the perpetrators of hate crimes against Muslims and Islamophobia, said the foreign office.

By seeking to project itself as ‘victim’ of terrorism, India cannot divert attention from the gross human rights violations being perpetrated by Indian occupation forces and the resulting humanitarian crisis in IIOJK, it added.

The international community recognises 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, the FO stressed.