Rattled by specific reference to Pakistan in the India-US Joint Statement issued following the bilateral meeting held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump in Washington, Islamabad on February 14 cited its past counter-terrorism cooperation with the United States to express surprise over the development.
“We consider the Pakistan-specific reference in the Indo-US joint statement of Feb 13 as one-sided, misleading and contrary to diplomatic norms. We are surprised the reference has been added to the joint statement notwithstanding Pakistan’s counter-terrorism cooperation with the US,” said Pakistan Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan during a weekly media briefing. PM Modi and Trump had a detailed discussion on the “global scourge of terrorism” and reaffirmed that terrorist safe havens should be eliminated from every corner of the world.
“Recognising a shared desire to bring to justice those who would harm our citizens, the US announced that the extradition to India of Tahawwur Rana has been approved. The leaders further called on Pakistan to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai, and Pathankot attacks and ensure that its territory is not used to carry out crossborder terrorist attacks,” read the Joint Statement issued after the meeting.
Pakistani-origin businessman Tahawwur Hussain Rana is accused of involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people, including six Americans, by providing material support to Pakistani terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba. He has been linked to PakistaniAmerican terrorist David Coleman Headley, a key conspirator in the attacks and is also accused of having close links with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
