Pakistan rattled by terror ref in Modi-Trump joint statement, rising Indo-US defence ties

By Anjali Sharma

WASHINGTON –Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan during a weekly media briefing cited Islamabad past counter-terrorism cooperation with the US and expressed surprise over the development and rattled by specific reference to Pakistan in the India-US Joint Statement issued after the bilateral meeting held between PM Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump in Washington last week.

Modi and Trump had a detailed discussion on the “global scourge of terrorism” and reaffirmed that terrorist safe havens should be eliminated from every corner of the world.

Joint Statement issued after the meeting read “Recognizing a shared desire to bring to justice those who would harm our citizens, the US announced that the extradition to India of Tahawwur Rana has been approved. The leaders further called on Pakistan to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai, and Pathankot attacks and ensure that its territory is not used to carry out cross-border terrorist attacks,” .

Pakistani-origin businessman Tahawwur Hussain Rana is accused in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people, including six Americans, by providing material support to Pakistani terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba.

He has been linked to Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, a key conspirator in the attacks and is also accused of having close links with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence.

The statement mentioned the joint resolve of both leaders and their commitment to strengthen cooperation against terrorist threats from groups – including Al-Qa’ida, ISIS, Jaish-e Mohammad, and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba in order to prevent heinous acts like the attacks in Mumbai on 26/11 and the Abbey Gate bombing in Afghanistan on August 26, 2021.

Both leaders pledged to work together to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems and to deny access to such weapons by terrorists and non-state actors.

Pakistani Foreign Ministry expressed its concern over deepening India-US defence partnership spanning multiple domains as Modi and US President Trump announced plans to pursue new procurements and co-production arrangements for ‘Javelin’ Anti-Tank Guided Missiles and ‘Stryker’ Infantry Combat Vehicles in India besides accelerating defence technology cooperation across space, air defence, missile maritime and undersea technologies.

“Pakistan is also deeply concerned over the planned transfer of military technology to India. Such steps accentuate military imbalances in the region and undermine strategic stability. They remain unhelpful in achieving durable peace in South Asia,” said Shafqat Ali Khan.