Pakistan criticises US-India joint statement on action against militants

Pakistan has criticised the joint statement by the United States and India following a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden.

In the statement, the two leaders urged Islamabad to take decisive action to prevent its territory from being used as a launching pad for militant attacks.

In a statement posted on Twitter on Friday, Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said Islamabad has lost countless lives and has been continuously at war with terrorism for decades now owing to failed American interventions in the region.

"Perhaps (US) Pres. Biden should consider these facts the next time he fetes the Butcher of Gujarat", he added.

"The irony of this statement coming during the visit of someone who was banned entry to the US for overseeing a pogrom of Muslims when he was CM Gujarat", he added.

He said that Modi "leads yet another campaign of state-sponsored terrorism in Kashmir, which includes routinely maiming and blinding the local population".

"Across the rest of the country, Modi's acolytes lynch Muslims, Christians, and other minorities, with impunity," Asif said.

On Thursday, the White House released a comprehensive 58-point statement reaffirming the united stance of both countries in combating global terrorism, saying "The United States and India stand together to counter global terrorism and unequivocally condemn terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations".

"President Biden and Prime Minister Modi reiterated the call for concerted action against all UN-listed terrorist groups including Al-Qaeda, Daesh, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), and Hizb-ul-Mujhahideen," the White House said on Thursday.

"They strongly condemned cross-border terrorism, 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," it added.