Pakistan’s continued denial has once again failed to hold ground. In a joint statement on measures on countering terrorism, the USA has joined India in underlining the “urgent need for Pakistan to take immediate, sustained, and irreversible action to ensure that no territory under its control is used for terrorist attacks”. The two sides have also asked Pakistan to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai Attack and Pathankot Attack.
During the Seventeenth meeting of the U.S.-India Counter-Terrorism Joint Working Group and the third session of the U.S.-India Designations Dialogue, the U.S. reiterated its support to India in the fight against terrorism.
In the meeting which was held virtually on September 9-10, both sides denounced the use of terrorist proxies and strongly condemned cross-border terrorism in all its forms. They exchanged views on threats posed by UN-sanctioned terrorist entities and emphasized the need for concerted action against all terrorist networks, including al-Qa’ida, ISIS/Daesh, Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), and Hizb-ul Mujahideen.
India was represented by Mahaveer Singhvi, Joint Secretary for Counter-Terrorism, Ministry of External Affairs while Ambassador Nathan A. Sales, U.S. State Department Coordinator for Counterterrorism, led the US side in the meeting.
The discussion was centered around counterterrorism cooperation and resolving to continue close coordination on this important element of the comprehensive global strategic partnership that exists between the two countries
India and the US both expressed commitment to strengthen cooperation on information sharing to disrupt the ability of international terrorists to travel around. Both sides highlighted their efforts in countering the financing and operations of terrorist organizations, radicalization and terrorist use of the internet, cross-border movement of terrorists, and prosecuting, rehabilitating, and reintegrating returning terrorist fighters and family members.
Report By Abhishek Jha