ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday categorically rejected the unwarranted reference in the statement issued after the US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue on April 11, terming the assertions as ‘malicious, lacking any credibility’. “It is unfortunate that a bilateral cooperation mechanism is being used to target a third country for political expediency and to mislead public opinion away from the real and emerging terrorism threats. The assertions made against Pakistan in the statement are malicious and lack any credibility,” Foreign Office Spokesperson said in a press release. The gratuitous reference in the statement alluding to some non-existent and dismantled entities betrayed misplaced counter-terrorism focus of both countries. “We expect and urge the partner countries to take an objective view of the issues of peace and security in South Asia and refrain from associating themselves with positions that are one-sided, politically motivated, and divorced from ground realities. Our concerns and rejection of the unwarranted reference to Pakistan in the U.S.-India Statement have been conveyed to the U.S. side through diplomatic channels,” it was added. Pakistan has remained a major, proactive, reliable and willing partner of the international community in the global fight against terrorism over last two decades. Pakistan’s successes and sacrifices in countering terrorism are unparalleled and widely acknowledged by the international community, including the United States. No country in the region had sacrificed more for peace than Pakistan, the spokesperson added. “India’s insinuations against Pakistan are in fact a desperate attempt to conceal its state-terrorism and brutal atrocities against the subjugated Kashmiris in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK),” it was added. Responsible members of the international community must condemn India’s use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy and the impunity that continued to be associated with it, the spokesperson said.
