ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON: As Pakistan issued a demarche to the US deputy chief of mission in Islamabad over the recent US-India joint statement that called on Pakistan to crack down on extremists that target New Delhi, the US State Department on Monday said the issue was regularly taken up with Pakistani officials to continue to work together to counter ‘mutual’ threats.

The US deputy chief of mission was called to the Foreign Office on Monday and issued the demarche, said a press release issued by the FO.

Pakistan conveyed its “concerns and disappointment at the unwarranted, one-sided and misleading references”.

“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.”

US wants Pakistan to continue countering ‘mutual terrorist threats’

The FO added that the counter-terrorism cooperation between the two nations “was progressing well and that an enabling environment, centred around trust and understanding, was imperative to further solidifying Pakistan-US ties”.

The Foreign Office has already rejected the “Pakistan-specific reference” with regard to cross-border terrorism in the joint US-India statement as “unwarranted, one-sided, and misleading”.

When asked to comment on Pakistan’s reaction, US State Department spokesperson Mathew Miller said: “First of all, we remain committed to working with Pakistan to address the shared threat by terrorists throughout the region. Pakistani people have suffered tremendously from terrorist attacks over the years.”

The US official also commended both Pakistan and India for continuing to uphold the ceasefire on the LOC. However, he said that the United States has “been consistent on the importance of Pakistan continuing to take steps to permanently disband all terrorist gro­ups,” including LeT, Jaish-i-Moham­med, and their various front organisations.

“We raise the issue regularly with Pakistani officials to continue to work together to counter mutual terrorist threats as we discussed in the March 2023 CT dialogue,” he added.

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2023