Pakistan regards the unwarranted reference in the India-US joint statement as malicious.

Pakistan categorically rejected the unwarranted reference in the statement issued following the US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue on April 11, calling the assertions’malicious and devoid of 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 Foreign Office said in a statement. The assertions made in the statement against Pakistan are malicious and lack credibility.”

The statement’s gratuitous reference to some non-existent and defunct entities revealed both countries’ misplaced counter-terrorism focus.