Pakistan says US-India statement contrary to diplomatic norms

The Foreign Office (FO) on Friday reacted strongly to the joint US-India statement issued against Pakistan after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Joe Biden a day earlier, saying thte statement was “misleading, unwarranted” and contrary to “diplomatic norms and has political overtones.”

Modi, who is on a state visit to the US, received a red-carpet welcome as he arrived at the White House on Thursday. During his visit, the two countries sealed major defence and technology deals as Washington bets big on India as a counterweight to China.

Using the visit to further India’s agenda against Pakistan, a joint statement issued by the two heads of state late on Thursday called on Pakistan to crack down “extremist groups based in Pakistan” such as the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.

Responding to media queries regarding the statement today, the FO Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said: “We consider the Pakistan-specific reference in the ‘Joint Statement from the United States and India’, issued on 22 June 2023, 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.”

She recalled that Pakistan had rendered unmatched sacrifices in the fight against terrorism and in doing so the law enforcement agencies and armed forces had set an example.

“The people of Pakistan are the real heroes in this fight,” the FO spokesperson highlighted, adding that the international community had time and again recognised 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,” she said.

Zahra noted, “India, in addition to being a state-sponsor of terrorism, habitually uses terrorism bogey to deflect attention from its brutal repression of Kashmiri people in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, and maltreatment of its minorities.”

“It is thus completely ill-placed to cast any aspersions on Pakistan and its fight against terrorism.

“Ironically, the joint statement fails to address the key sources of tension and instability in the region and to take cognisance of the grave human rights situation in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK). This is tantamount to abdication of international responsibility,” the spokesperson pointed out.

She added that Pakistan was deeply concerned over “the planned transfer of advanced military technologies to India”, saying that such steps “are accentuating military imbalance in the region and undermining strategic stability”.

They remain unhelpful in achieving the objective of durable peace in South Asia, Zahrah said.

“We urge our international partners to take a holistic and objective view of the issues of peace and security in South Asia and refrain from endorsing one-sided positions,” she added.

Biden should consider facts before feting ‘butcher of Gujarat: Khawaja Asif’

Earlier, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Friday hit back at the US-India statement issued against Pakistan, saying Biden should “consider facts the next time he fetes the butcher of Gujarat”.

Taking exception to the statement, Asif noted it was ironic that the statement was issued during the visit of “someone who was banned entry to the US for overseeing a pogrom of Muslims when he was CM Gujarat.”

“He (Modi) leads yet another campaign of state-sponsored terrorism in [Indian-held] Kashmir, which includes routinely maiming and blinding the local population. Across the rest of the country, Modi’s acolytes lynch Muslims, Christians and other minorities, with impunity.

“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 defence minister said in the National Assembly.

“Perhaps President Biden should consider these facts the next time he fetes the Butcher of Gujarat,” he added.

He added that the same was currently underway against India’s minorities and in occupied Kashmir.

On the other hand, Asif said, Pakistan had supported the US in two wars in Afghanistan for the last 40 years and was “part of a war that was never ours”.

The minister said Pakistan was still paying the price for becoming part of the US-led war on terror and yet “there is no acknowledgement”, adding that the US-India joint statement was a “basis of dishonour” for the nation.

“We sold our people to them and the result of that is the joint communique by President Biden and the Butcher of Gujarat [in which they have] accused Pakistan of terrorism.”

Asif further stressed that Pakistan should leverage its geographic location for its benefit instead of incurring losses because of it.