Pakistan categorically rejects unwarranted reference in the statement issued after US-India Ministerial Dialogue

ISLAMABAD, April 13 (SABAH): Pakistan has categorically rejected the unwarranted reference in the statement issued after the US-India Ministerial Dialogue on Monday last. 

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

It is unfortunate that a bilateral cooperation mechanism is being used to target a third country for political expediency and to mislead public opinion away from the real and emerging terrorism threats. The assertions made against Pakistan in the statement are malicious and lack any credibility.

The Foreign Office said Pakistan has remained a major, proactive, reliable and willing partner of the international community in the global fight against terrorism over 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.

The Foreign Office said 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. 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. It said 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 Foreign Office 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.

It said 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.

Meanwhile Pakistan has welcomed Saudi efforts for peaceful settlement of the conflict in Yemen.

In a statement by the Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan also welcomed the UN Special Envoy’s announcement of a truce in Yemen. It also supported the establishment of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, successful conclusion of the GCC hosted intra-Yemeni dialogue in Riyadh.

The statement further said Pakistan considers the establishment of the Council an important step in the right direction, that will help promote comprehensive political solution to the Yemeni crisis.