Trump, Modi urge Pakistan to quell terror activities

WASHINGTON — United States President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday urged Pakistan to stem terror attacks from its soil, the White House said in a statement.

The move reflects a tougher stance by the US on terrorism emanating from Pakistan, which India has long accused of harbouring militant groups.

“The leaders called on Pakistan to ensure that its territory is not used to launch terrorist attacks on other countries,” a joint statement from Mr Trump and Mr Modi said following their first face-to-face meeting at the White House.

In condemning terrorism as a “global scourge”, the two leaders also pledged to strengthen cooperation against threats from various terrorist groups, including Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba. They further called on Islamabad to “expeditiously bring to justice” the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks and last year’s assault on an Indian air force base in Pathankot, which India blamed on the two militant groups.

Yesterday’s joint statement was a step further than the ones issued after Mr Modi’s meeting last year with former US President Barack Obama, according to news portal NDTV. Those statements had only asked Pakistan to act against the perpetrators of the Mumbai and other terror attacks.

Relations between India and Pakistan have been hostile for many years, with New Delhi frequently accusing arch-rival Islamabad of stirring up violence in neighbouring Afghanistan and harbouring militant groups.

Pakistan fiercely denies allowing any militants safe haven on its territory, with officials pointing towards the toll that militancy has taken on the country.

Since 2003, almost 22,000 civilians and nearly 7,000 Pakistani security forces have been killed as a result of militancy, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, which tracks violence.

India has also long seethed at Pakistan’s failure either to hand over or prosecute those accused of planning the Mumbai attacks which killed more than 160 people, while Pakistan has alleged that India failed to give it crucial evidence.

Still, yesterday’s tough stance against Pakistan was not unexpected. Hours before Mr Trump met Mr Modi, the State Department has imposed sanctions on a senior figure in the Kashmiri separatist group Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.

The designation of Syed Salahuddin as a global terrorist marks a diplomatic victory for India, which has been battling a decades-long insurgency by separatist groups in Kashmir, a Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan and claimed in full by both.

Hizb-ul-Mujahideen is one of several homegrown militant groups fighting around half a million Indian troops in the region, calling for independence or a merger with Pakistan.

“India appreciated the United States designation of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen leader as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist as evidence of the commitment of the United States to end terror in all its forms,” the joint statement further added. AGENCIES