Pakistan Summons US Envoy Over Modi-Biden Statement, Gets Firm Response
Pakistan’s foreign ministry on Monday summoned the US embassy’s deputy chief of mission to express concern and disappointment over a last week’s joint statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden that called on Islamabad to ensure its territory was not used as a base for terrorist attacks.
Alleging that “one-sided and misleading” references were made in the joint statement, Pakistan’s foreign office said, “It was stressed that the United States should refrain from issuing statements that may be construed as an encouragement of India’s baseless and politically motivated narrative against Pakistan.”
“It was also emphasized that counter-terrorism co-operation between Pakistan and the U.S. had been progressing well and that an enabling environment, centred around trust and understanding, was imperative to further solidifying Pakistan-U.S. ties,” it added.
US State Department spokesperson Matt Miller told reporters in a daily news briefing that though Pakistan had taken important steps to counter terrorist groups, Washington advocated for more to be done.
“At the same time, however, we have also been consistent on the importance of Pakistan continuing to take steps to permanently dismantle all terrorist groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad, and their various front organizations and we will raise the issue regularly with Pakistani officials,” he said.
What the joint statement said about Pak
In a joint statement during Prime Minister Modi’s state visit to the US, the two countries condemned terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestation. Modi and Biden called for concerted action against all UN-listed terrorist groups including Pak-based outfits like Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), and Hizb-ul-Mujhahideen. The two sides also called for the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot attacks to be brought to justice, links of which have been long established with Pakistan.
While LeT was behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which more than 160 people were killed, Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for a 2019 Pulwama attack that killed 40 paramilitary jawans.
Imran Khan on joint statement
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan tried to corner the ruling coalition saying the joint statement reduced Islamabad to a “promoter of cross-border terrorism in India and nothing more” despite “countless trips” of Pakistan’s foreign minister to the US.
“So now the imported govt experiment has not just made Pakistan irrelevant internationally but our democracy, rule of law and the entire economic and institutional structure is also collapsing right in front of our eyes,” Khan tweeted.