Pakistan Summons US Deputy Mission Chief Over India-US Joint Statement On Cross-Border Terrorism

Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's US visit, where PM Modi and US President Joe Biden called on Pakistan to ensure its territory was not used as a base for militant attacks, Pakistan's foreign ministry on Monday summoned the U.S. embassy's deputy chief of mission to express concern over the statement, reported Reuters. The statement under question by Pakistan was released by the United States and India following a meeting between India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden at the White House on Friday (June 22).

Pakistan had criticised the statement and called the statement as "contrary to diplomatic norms," reported Reuters.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan, Issues statement

In a notification by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan, issued on June 26, 2023, Pakistan said, "The US Deputy Chief of Mission was called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this evening and a demarche was made to him regarding the US-India Joint Statement, issued on 22 June 2023."

"Pakistan's concerns and disappointment at the unwarranted, one-sided and misleading references to it in the joint statement were conveyed to the US side. 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," the notification further read.

"It was also emphasized that counter-terrorism co-operation between Pakistan and US had been progressing well and that an enabling environment, centered around trust and understanding, was imperative to further solidifying Pakistan-US ties," said the statement by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan.

Joint Statement from the United States and India

The White House had released a list of joint statements issued by the US and India on PM Modi's state visit to the United States. Below is the joint statement on Pakistan and combating terrorism issued by US and India that Pakistan has objected to.

United States and India stand together to counter global terrorism

"The United States and India stand together to counter global terrorism and unequivocally condemn terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations.  President Biden and Prime Minister Modi reiterated the call for concerted action against all UN-listed terrorist groups including Al-Qa’ida, ISIS/Daesh, Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), and Hizb-ul-Mujhahideen.  They strongly condemned cross-border terrorism, the use of terrorist proxies and called on Pakistan to take immediate action to ensure that no territory under its control is used for launching terrorist attacks." 

Statement called for the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot attacks to be brought to justice

"They called for the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot attacks to be brought to justice. They noted with concern the increasing global use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), drones and information and communication technologies for terrorist purposes and reaffirmed the importance of working together to combat such misuse."

Combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism

"They welcomed the cooperation between our two governments on counterterrorism designations and homeland security cooperation, including in intelligence sharing and law enforcement cooperation, and called upon the Financial Action Task Force to undertake further work identifying how to improve global implementation of its standards to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism."

US State Department Spokesperson, Matthew Miller, was asked about Pakistan raising an issue about the joint statement by the United States and India on Pakistan over cross-border terrorism.

"We remain committed to working with Pakistan to address the shared threat posed by terrorist groups throughout the region. At the same time, we have also been consistent on the importance of Pakistan continuing to take steps to permanently disband all terrorist groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and their various front organizations. We will raise the issue regularly with Pakistani officials and will continue to work together to counter mutual terrorist threats," said US State Department Spokesperson.