"Will raise issue regularly with Pak...," US official

WASHINGTON: United States said it has been consistently calling on Pakistan to increase efforts to permanently disband all terrorist groups like the LeT, JuD and their various front organisations and stated that Washington remains committed to working with Islamabad to address the shared threat posed by terrorist groups throughout the region.

"We remain committed to working with Pakistan to address the shared threat posed by terrorist groups throughout the region...At the same time, we have also been consistent on the importance of Pakistan continuing to take steps to permanently disband all terrorist groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed, and their various front organisations," US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday during a departmental press briefing.

Miller was responding to a query on the joint statement of India-US during Prime Minster Narendra Modi's recent US visit and which called on Islamabad to ensure its territory was not used as a base for terrorist attacks.

"Moreover, we commend both Pakistan and India for continuing to uphold the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC). And, we will raise the issue regularly with Pakistan and will continue to work together to counter mutual terrorist threats," the US Department of State spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's foreign ministry on Monday summoned United States Deputy Chief of Mission and handed a demarche to him over the joint Modi-Biden statement.

"The US Deputy Chief of Mission was called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this evening and a demarche was made to him regarding the US-India Joint Statement, issued on 22 June 2023," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan said in a press release on Monday.

"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 an encouragement of India's baseless and politically motivated narrative against Pakistan," the release read.

In their joint statement on June 23, India and US 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. The joint US-India statement said: "They (Biden and Modi) 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."

Biden and Prime Minister 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. Both countries stood together to counter global terrorism and unequivocally condemn terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations. They called for the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot attacks to be brought to justice, read the statement.

Relations between India and Pakistan have been precarious for many years with regard to cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan. Earlier, PM Modi had highlighted the need to fight terrorism and extremism that constitutes a real threat to democracy, the rule of law and the enjoyment of human rights. PM Modi's remarks came just days after China rejected UN resolutions that would have designated Sajid Mir of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which has its base in Pakistan, as a "global terrorist."