Pakistan hands official demarche to US envoy over Modi-Biden joint statement

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Pakistan's foreign ministry summoned United States Deputy Chief of Mission and handed a demarche to him over a joint statement issued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden last week that called on Islamabad to ensure its territory was not used as a base for terrorist attacks.

Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Monday summoned US Deputy Chief of Mission Andrew Schofer and handed over a demarche to him over the US-India joint Statement, issued on June 22, Pakistan-based daily the Dawn reported.

During PM Narendra Modi's recent visit, US and India strongly condemned cross-border terrorism, and the use of terrorist proxies and called on Pakistan to take immediate action to ensure that no territory under its control is used for launching terrorist attacks.

"Pakistan's concerns and disappointment at the unwarranted, one-sided and misleading references to it in the Joint Statement were conveyed to the US side. It was stressed that the United States should refrain from issuing statements that may be construed as encouragement of India's baseless and politically motivated narrative against Pakistan," as per an official release from Pakistan MoFA.

US President Joe Biden and PM Modi reiterated the call for concerted action against all UN-listed terrorist groups including Al-Qaida, ISIS/Daesh, Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), and Hizb-ul-Mujhahideen.

"It was also emphasized that counter-terrorism co-operation between Pakistan and US had been progressing well and that an enabling environment, centered around trust and understanding, was imperative to further solidifying Pakistan-US ties," the release added.

Earlier, the Pakistan Foreign Ministry said the reference to Pakistan in the India-US joint statement was "contrary to diplomatic norms and has political overtones." Defence Minister Khawaja Asif also criticised the joint statement and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, reported Dawn.

US State Department spokesperson Matt Miller told reporters during a daily news briefing reiterated the US demand that Pakistan should take steps to disband all terrorist groups from its territory and that it would raise the issue regularly with the country.

"...We have also been consistent on the importance of Pakistan continuing to take steps to permanently dismantle all terrorist groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad, and their various front organizations and we will raise the issue regularly with Pakistani officials," Miller said.

During his first State visit to the US while addressing a joint press conference with US President Joe Biden, PM Modi had said, "India and America are walking shoulder to shoulder in the fight against terrorism and extremism. We agree that concerted action is necessary to end cross-border terrorism." (ANI)

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