WASHINGTON, Jun 27 (NNI): The US State Department made a move to control damage a day after Pakistan summoned the American envoy to express concern over a joint statement issued in Washington last week by President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that called on Pakistan to ensure its territory was not used as a base for militant attacks.
Briefing the newsmen in Washington, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the United States acknowledged Pakistan’s counter-terrorism measures. He said that the people of Pakistan have suffered tremendously from terrorist attacks over the years and added that the US remained committed to working with Pakistan to address the shared threat posed by terrorist groups throughout the region.
Matthew Miller said that the US recognizes that Pakistan has taken some important steps to counter terrorist groups in line with the completion of its Financial Action Task Force (FATF) actions plans.
Responding to a question, Miller said “We commend both Pakistan and India for continuing to uphold the ceasefire along the line of control (LoC).”
“We want Pakistan to continue to take steps to permanently disband all terrorist groups and the US is in constant contact with the Pakistani authorities in this regard, he said and added “The US will continue to work with Pakistan to counter mutual terrorist threats, as we discussed during our March 2023 counter terrorism dialogue.”
Replying to a question regarding human rights and religious freedom violations in India, the State Department spokesperson said that they regularly raise concerns about human rights in their conversations with Indian officials and President Biden spoke about this issue in the joint press conference that he held with Indian PM Modi.
Earlier, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry had summoned the US embassy’s deputy chief of mission to express concern over a statement last week by US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The statement from the United States and India was released after a meeting between the two countries’ leaders at the White House on Friday last and had received criticism from Pakistan, which called it contrary to diplomatic norms. “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,” Pakistan’s foreign office said in a statement.
“It was also emphasized that counter-terrorism cooperation between Pakistan and the US had been progressing well and that an enabling environment, centered around trust and understanding, was imperative to further solidifying Pakistan-US ties.”
On Saturday last, two civilians were martyred by Indian forces in firing across the Line of Control in Azad Kashmir, the first such conflict since a ceasefire in 2021 between the two nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours. NNI
