India & US Ask Pakistan to ‘Take Immediate, Irreversible Action Against Terrorists’

The United States of America along with India have urged Pakistan to take “immediate and irreversible” action against all terrorist networks and ensure that no such activity is conducted on any territory. They have asked Pakistan to take action against terrorist outfits like Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Lashkar e-Taiba (LeT). The statement was issued by both the countries during the second high-level Indo-US 2+2 Dialogue.

Dialogue between India and the US

The Indo-US 2+2 Dialogue took place in Washington DC on Wednesday and it was attended by the high-level dignitaries from both the countries. It was attended by the Union Minister of External Affairs and Defence S Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh from India and their counterparts from the US, the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mark Esper. They jointly condemned terrorism in all its forms and called for collective action against all terrorist networks including Al Qaeda, ISIS/Daesh, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Haqqani Network, Hizbul Mujahideen, TTP, and D-Company.

The statement read, “The Ministers called on Pakistan to take an immediate, sustained and irreversible action to ensure that no territory under its control is used for terrorism against other countries in any manner and to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of cross-border terrorist attacks, including 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot.”

India appreciates US support

India, during the joint dialogue, hailed the USA’s support of declaring JeM leader Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. Similarly, the USA welcomed India’s new laws to eliminate and expedite cooperation on terrorist designations. External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar reiterated that talks related to counter-terrorism and cross border terrorism were discussed during the meeting. The Minister also praised the thoughts expressed by Mike Pompeo on the eleventh anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Rajnath Singh took to Twitter and shared a few moments of the meeting.

Participated in the 2 Plus 2 Dialogue between India and the United States in Washington. India and the US have a worldwide strategic partnership and we are working collectively to deepen this partnership. The 2+2 mechanism has brought about greater synergy in our policies. pic.twitter.com/8JqamHLIAP — Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) December 19, 2019

S Jaishankar further said, “We also discussed ways to address these challenges including by working closely together at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). We also took note of exchanges between our judicial academies for the appreciation of challenges and evolving practices in adjudicating counter-terrorism cases”.

Source: ANI

Image Courtesy: PBI