Pakistan calls India-US joint statement 'unwarranted, one-sided'

Islamabad, June 24 (IANS) In an aggressive response to a joint statement issued by India and the US earlier this week, Pakistan has termed it as "unwarranted, one-sided and misleading" and also called on President Joe Biden's administration to check facts.


The Foreign Office (FO) in Islamabad maintained that Pakistan-specific reference made in the joint statement was contrary to diplomatic norms and carried political overtones.

"We consider the Pakistan-specific reference in the joint statement issued on June 22, as unwarranted, one-sided, and misleading. The reference is contrary to diplomatic norms and has political overtones. We are surprised that it has been added despite Pakistan's close counterterrorism cooperation with the US," FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a statement.

She also reminded the Biden administration about the sacrifices it has rendered in the ongoing fight against terrorism and how it as gained global and international recognition for its efforts.

"The international community has time and again recognized Pakistan's efforts and sacrifices in the fight against terrorism. It has long concluded that terrorism can be defeated through concerted and cooperative actions. Today, we fail to see how the assertions made in the joint statement could strengthen the international resolve to fight terrorism.

"The statement shows that the cooperative spirit, so vitally needed to defeat the scourge of terrorism, has been sacrificed at the altar of geopolitical considerations," the spokeswoman added.

Pakistan also took the opportunity to re-state its anti-India narrative, calling the Modi government "a state-sponsor of terrorism".

"In addition to being a state-sponsor of terrorism, India habitually uses terrorism bogey to deflect attention from its brutal repression of Kashmiri people... and maltreatment of its minorities. It is thus completely ill-placed to caste any aspersions on Pakistan and its fight against terrorism," said the the FO statement.

Pakistan also raised its serious reservations over the transfer of advanced military technologies to India by the US, terming such steps as a promotion of military imbalance in the region and undermining of strategic stability.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif also lashed out at the joint statement, calling on President Biden to take into account facts before issuing any stance on Pakistan.

"Pakistan has lost countless lives and has been continuously at war with terrorism for decades now, owing to failed American interventions in the region... The US-India joint statement was a basis of dishonour for the nation," he said.