Washington:

Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the US Department of State, Vedant Patel reiterated the country’s stand on terrorism and said that they hope that any country on the planet condemns terrorism anywhere.

Vedant Patel was asked by a media person about where the US relations stand with India and Pakistan as India has always emphasised that terrorism and talks cannot go together with Pakistan.

Addressing the media briefing on Monday, the US official was responding to a question on where the US stands as a triangle between the US and India, Pakistan and India and India-US relations.

The reporter restated Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intent and quoted that he has been trying even during his second term that India wants a good relationship with Pakistan, adding that terrorism and talks cannot go together.

“We would hope that any country on the face of the planet condemns terrorism anywhere,” Patel said.

He further said that the US welcomes any countries making more positive relations with their neighbours.

“But ultimately this is between India and Pakistan broadly, of course, we welcome any countries making more positive relations with their neighbours. But as it relates to this specifically, I just don’t have anything to offer,” he said.

Vedant Patel emphasised that India is a country in which the US is deepening relations in a number of key spaces.

“India is a country in which we are deepening our relations within a number of key spaces, especially as it relates to deepening our economic ties, deepening our security cooperation,” he said.

He further noted that US President Joe Biden had the opportunity to briefly see Prime Minister Modi in the margins of the G7 a couple of weeks ago.

“So, this is an area we will continue to cultivate this relationship,” he said.

Further underscoring PM Modi’s state visit to the US, Patel said that there will be several additional areas where the US continue to deepen cooperation.

“You are no stranger to the fact that we hosted India for a state visit last summer. And I imagine there will be a number of additional areas where we continue to deepen cooperation. National Security Adviser Sullivan just had a visit to Delhi a number of weeks ago as well,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

 The United States has said it supports direct discussions between India and Pakistan but the pace, scope and character of talks should be determined by the two neighbouring countries.

Responding to a question at his daily news conference on Thursday, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US values its important relationships with both India and Pakistan.

“As we have said, we support direct discussions between India and Pakistan, but the pace, scope and character should be determined by those two countries, not by us,” he said.

Responding to another question, Miller said the US and Pakistan have a shared interest in combating threats to regional security.

“We partner with Pakistan on security through our high-level counterterrorism dialogue, including several counterterrorism capacity building programmes, and we support a series of US-Pakistan military-to-military engagements,” he said.

“We are in regular communication with Pakistani leaders as a part of our partnership on CT issues, and we will continue to discuss regional security in detail, including through our annual counterterrorism dialogue and other bilateral consultations,” he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday claimed that he informed Pakistan about the 2019 Balakot air strikes before disclosing it to the world.

Speaking at a poll rally in Karnataka’s Bagalkot, he said that “Modi doesn’t believe in attacking from the back and fights openly face to face”.

The Prime Minister said, “I had asked the forces to call the media and inform them, but I said before that I will inform Pakistan through telephone about airstrikes at night and the destruction caused, but Pakistan people did not come on the phone. So I asked forces to wait, and after informing them, we later disclosed to the world about airstrikes that happened during the night.”

PM Modi added that “Modi doesn’t hide things nor attacks from hiding, and does things openly.”

PM Modi reveals how people confused ‘Balakot Airstrike’ with Bagalkot#shorts#shortsvideospic.twitter.com/e4AfAMtIWN

— BJP Tripura (@BJP4Tripura) April 30, 2024

He also warned those who try to kill innocent people in the country and said, “This is Naya Bharat (New India). Ghar me ghuskar ke maarega (will kill inside one’s (enemy) territory).

He also said that when India launched air strikes in Pakistan, many people initially thought it was conducted in Bagalkot, the similar-sounding Karnataka district.

READ | “India Dreams Of Becoming Superpower, We Are Begging”: Pak Minister

“We then held a press conference and disclosed information about it and the destruction caused to the enemies, after the strikes,” he told the gathering.

Campaigning in Bagalkote… The mood across Karnataka is distinctly in favour of the NDA.https://t.co/nvO29bXvEq

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 29, 2024

India warplanes attacked a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Balakot on February 26, 2019, in response to the Pulwama terror attack.

What India Said After Balakot Strikes

After the Balakot strikes, India had said that a “very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis” were killed in the overnight operation.

They were being trained for “fidayeen” action and the facility at Balakot was headed by Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri, the brother-in-law of JeM chief Masood Azhar, the Ministry of External Affairs said in an official statement.

“Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose. In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary,” the statement read.

“This non-military preemptive action was specifically targeted at the JeM camp. The selection of the target was also conditioned by our desire to avoid civilian casualties. The facility is located in a thick forest on a hilltop far away from any civilian presence,” the statement added.

India’s head coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma.
| Photo Credit: PTI

India captain Rohit Sharma says he wouldn’t mind playing Tests against Pakistan at a neutral venue as it would be a “great contest” against the “superb bowling line-up” of the arch-rivals.

India and Pakistan have not played bilateral cricket ever since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which over 150 people were killed. The two countries, however, routinely face off in ICC events.

Their most recent clash happened during last year’s ODI World Cup in India.

“I totally believe that they are a good team, superb bowling line-up, good contest, if we play overseas. The last Test was played way back in 2007-08,” Rohit said on ‘Club Prairie Fire’, a Youtube show hosted by former Australian keeper-batter Adam Gilchrist and former England skipper Michael Vaughan.

“Yeah, I would love to (play against Pakistan), it would be a great contest between two sides. We play them in ICC trophies, pure cricket I am looking at, great contest, so why not?” he said when asked whether Indo-Pak Tests are possible at a neutral venue like England or Australia.

Led by Shaheen Shah Afridi, Pakistan’s traditionally pace-reliant bowling line-up currently features exciting talents like Naseem Shah, who is only 21, and Aamer Jamal.

The BCCI has maintained that any decision on bilateral cricket with Pakistan will hinge on approval from the government, which has so far not permitted cricketing engagement with the arch-foes.

Pakistan, on the other hand, has been aggressively pushing for bilateral engagement with India, even taking it up at ICC forums at every available opportunity.

Last year, India refused to travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup, which was eventually conducted in a hybrid model. All of India’s scheduled games in Pakistan were relocated to Sri Lanka.

The next year’s Champions Trophy will be another bone of contention between the two countries as the tournament is set to be held in Pakistan, which has declared that it won’t agree to any change of venue to accommodate India.

The ICC, on its part, has stated that it won’t force any member nation to disregard government advisory.

“…ICC Board’s position remains that it doesn’t expect its members to go against any policy/instructions issued by its own government,” an ICC official had stated recently.

Photo used for representation purpose only. File
| Photo Credit:
Reuters

In response to Union Defense Minister Rajnath Singh’s remarks on terrorism where he said that “If they [terrorists] run away to Pakistan, we will enter Pakistan to kill them (Pakistan mein ghus ke marenge),” Pakistan on April 6 said that the Indian government “habitually resorts to hateful rhetoric to fuel hyper-nationalistic sentiments, unapologetically exploiting such discourse for electoral gains.”

In an interview to a television channel Mr. Singh responded to a question on an article published in The Guardian that said India had carried out the execution of almost 20 terrorists since 2020 inside Pakistan. “If any terrorist tries to disturb the peace in Bharat, or tries to carry out terror activities in Bharat, we will give them a befitting reply (muh tod jawab),” he said.

Denouncing his remarks, Pakistan brought up their claims of “India’s campaign of extrajudicial and transnational assassinations on Pakistani soil” citing evidence they had provided in January this year.

“India’s assertion of its preparedness to extra-judicially execute more civilians, arbitrarily pronounced as “terrorists”, inside Pakistan constitutes a clear admission of culpability. It is imperative for the international community to hold India accountable for its heinous and illegal actions,” Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said in a press release.

“India’s ruling dispensation habitually resorts to hateful rhetoric to fuel hyper-nationalistic sentiments, unapologetically exploiting such discourse for electoral gains,” it added.

In January, in response to Pakistan Foreign Secretary Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi’s claims that India had carried out two extra-judicial killings, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had termed it Pakistan’s “latest attempt at peddling false and malicious anti-India propaganda.” Stating that Pakistan has long been the epicentre of terrorism, organised crime, and illegal transnational activities, the spokesperson added that to “blame others for its own misdeeds can neither be a justification nor a solution.”

The Ministry of External Affairs has declined to comment on whether Mr. Singh’s statement was at odds with the MEA position, as quoted in the article, that the allegations were false.

Pakistan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ishaq Dar. File
| Photo Credit: AFP

Pakistan on March 28 clarified that it has no plan to resume trade relations with India which has been “non-existent” since 2019 after the Indian government abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

The clarification from Pakistan’s Foreign Office comes days after the new Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said in London that Pakistan will seriously consider restoring trade ties with India that have remained suspended since August 2019.

In August 2019, India suspended Article 370 giving special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated it into centrally-administered Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

At the weekly briefing here, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch was asked to comment on reports about the possibility of resumption of trade ties with India.

“Pakistan-India trade relations have been non-existent since 2019 when India took illegal steps in the illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir … There is no change in Pakistan’s position on it,” Ms. Baloch said.

Foreign Minister Mr. Dar, during a press conference in London on March 23, highlighted the eagerness of Pakistan’s business community to resume trade activities with India, indicating a potential shift in diplomatic stance towards its neighbouring nation.

Pakistan downgraded its ties with India after the Indian Parliament suspended Article 370 on August 5, 2019, a decision that Islamabad believed undermined the environment for holding talks between the neighbours.

Pakistan has been insisting that the onus of improving the ties was on India and urging it to undo its “unilateral” steps in Kashmir as a sort of pre-condition to start the talks.

India has dismissed the suggestion and made it clear to Pakistan that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh were integral and inalienable parts of the country.

New Delhi has also asserted that the constitutional measures taken by the Indian government to ensure socio-economic development and good governance in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are matters internal to India.

It has been maintaining that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan while insisting that the onus is on Islamabad to create an environment that is free of terror and hostility for such an engagement.