Pakistan rattled and worried by terror reference in Joint St
Pakistan rattled and worried by terror reference in Joint Statement, increasing India-US defence ties
following the bilateral meeting held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump in Washington, Islamabad on Friday cited its past counter-terrorism cooperation with the United States to express surprise over the development
ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI —
Rattled by specific reference to Pakistan in the India-US Joint Statement
issued following the bilateral meeting held between Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and US President Donald Trump in Washington, Islamabad on Friday cited its
past counter-terrorism cooperation with the United States to express surprise
over the development.
"We consider the Pakistan-specific reference in the
Indo-US joint statement of Feb 13 as one-sided, misleading and contrary to
diplomatic norms. We are surprised the reference has been added to the joint
statement notwithstanding Pakistan's counter-terrorism cooperation with the
US," said Pakistan Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan
during a weekly media briefing.
PM Modi and Trump had a detailed discussion on the
"global scourge of terrorism" and reaffirmed that terrorist safe
havens should be eliminated from every corner of the world.
"Recognising a shared desire to bring to justice those
who would harm our citizens, the US announced that the extradition to India of
Tahawwur Rana has been approved. The leaders further called on Pakistan to
expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai, and
Pathankot attacks and ensure that its territory is not used to carry out
cross-border terrorist attacks," read the Joint Statement issued after the
meeting.
Pakistani-origin businessman Tahawwur Hussain Rana is
accused of involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people,
including six Americans, by providing material support to Pakistani terrorist
organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba.
He has been linked to Pakistani-American terrorist David
Coleman Headley, a key conspirator in the attacks and is also accused of having
close links with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
The statement mentioned the joint resolve of both leaders
and their commitment to strengthen cooperation against terrorist threats from
groups - including Al-Qa'ida, ISIS, Jaish-e Mohammad, and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba -
in order to prevent heinous acts like the attacks in Mumbai on 26/11 and the
Abbey Gate bombing in Afghanistan on August 26, 2021.
Both leaders also pledged to work together to prevent
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems and to
deny access to such weapons by terrorists and non-state actors.
As Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump announced
plans to pursue new procurements and co-production arrangements for 'Javelin'
Anti-Tank Guided Missiles and 'Stryker' Infantry Combat Vehicles in India besides
accelerating defence technology cooperation across space, air defence, missile,
maritime and undersea technologies, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry also
expressed its concern over deepening India-US defence partnership spanning
multiple domains.
"Pakistan is also deeply concerned over the planned
transfer of military technology to India. Such steps accentuate military
imbalances in the region and undermine strategic stability. They remain
unhelpful in achieving durable peace in South Asia," said Shafqat Ali
Khan.
