Pakistan rejects unwarranted reference in statement issued after US-India ministerial dialogue 

Pakistan rejects unwarranted reference in statement issued after US-India ministerial dialogue 

Islamabad (Web Desk): Pakistan on Wednesday  categorically rejected the 'unwarranted reference' in the statement issued after the 2+2 US-India Ministerial Dialogue on April 11.

In the statement, US and India called on Pakistan to take 'immediate, sustained, and irreversible action' to ensure that no territory under its control was used for terrorist attacks.

"The gratuitous reference in the statement alluding to some non-existent and dismantled entities betrays misplaced counter-terrorism focus of both countries," the Foreign Office said in a statement.

The FO said it was unfortunate that a bilateral cooperation mechanism was being used to target a third country for political expediency and to mislead public opinion away from real and emerging terrorism threats.

"The assertions made against Pakistan in the statement are malicious and lack any credibility," it added.

It 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.

The FO statement said that Pakistan's successes and sacrifices in countering terrorism are unparalleled and widely acknowledged by the international community, including the United States. No country in the region has sacrificed more for peace than Pakistan.

The statement said that India's insinuations against Pakistan are in fact a desperate attempt to conceal its state-terrorism and brutal atrocities against the subjugated Kashmiris in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

"Responsible members of the international community must condemn India’s use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy and the impunity that continues to be associated with it,". the FO stated.

It said that India’s terrorism network using the soil of other countries and through supporting UN-designated terrorist organizations, is on record. Failing to take cognizance of this serious situation is tantamount to abdication of international responsibility.

The FO said Pakistan expects and urges partner countries to take an objective view of the issues of peace and security in South Asia and refrain from associating themselves with positions that are one-sided, politically motivated, and divorced from ground realities.

"Our concerns and rejection of the unwarranted reference to Pakistan in the US-India Statement have been conveyed to the US side through diplomatic channels," the FO statement said.