ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday plainly rejected the “unwarranted reference” issued after the US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue where they asked Islamabad to take irreversible actions against terror outfits.
“The gratuitous reference in the statement alluding to some non-existent and dismantled entities betrays misplaced counter-terrorism focus of both countries,” said the Foreign Office in a statement.
The joint statement came days after Imran Khan’s removal as prime minister, which according to the PTI leadership as well as the supporters the “Indo-US joint statement against Pakistan was issued as the new government in Islamabad was subservient to the West”.
The Foreign Office 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.
Expect continuation of healthy military-to-military relations with Pakistani armed forces: Pentagon
The FO 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.
“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,” it added.
The FO said India’s insinuations against Pakistan were in fact a “desperate attempt” to conceal its state-terrorism and brutal atrocities against the subjugated Kashmiris in the 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 supporting UN-designated terrorist organisations is on record, and failing to take cognizance of this serious situation is tantamount to abdication of international responsibility.
“We expect and urge the 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,” said the FO statement.
“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”.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.