India-US sign pact to track Dawood Ibrahim in Pak

NEW DELHI: The first 2+2 India-US dialogue - which saw foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman engaging with their US counterparts Mike Pompeo and Jim Mattis - resulted in a rap on the knuckles for Pakistan.In a joint statement, the two countries named and called upon Pakistan to ensure its territory wasn't used to launch terror attacks on other countries. Official sources here described the "reprimand" as one of the important takeaways from the meeting which saw India and the US agreeing to further intensify counter-terror cooperation."The ministers denounced any use of terrorist proxies in the region, and in this context, they called on Pakistan to ensure that the territory under its control is not used to launch terrorist attacks on other countries,'' said the joint statement.Ahead of the 10th anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, India and US also called on Pakistan to bring to justice expeditiously the perpetrators of the Mumbai, Pathankot, Uri, and other "cross-border terrorist attacks".Welcoming the recent designations of Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists by the US, Swaraj said it underscored the international community's scrutiny over the threat of terrorism emanating from Pakistan, which had affected India and the US alike. "India supports President Trump's South Asia policy. His call for Pakistan to stop its policy of supporting cross-border terrorism finds resonance with us," said Swaraj. Pompeo didn't mention Pakistan in his remarks though.The two sides welcomed the launch of a bilateral dialogue on designation of terrorists in 2017 which, they said, is strengthening cooperation and action against terrorist groups, including al-Qaida, Islamic State, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Hizb-ul Mujahideen, the Haqqani Network, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, DCompany and their affiliates.The US and India welcomed the expansion of bilateral counter-terrorism cooperation with the ministers announcing their intent to increase information-sharing efforts on known or suspected terrorists and to implement UN Security Council Resolution 2396 on returning foreign terrorist fighters. The two countries are also discussing the possibility of bringing another resolution at the UN for a ban on Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar. It is important though for them to ensure that China drops its opposition to the ban. China has twice earlier blocked a UN ban on Azhar.The strong support from the US on cross-border terrorism is significant, coming as it does ahead of the UN General Assembly meet which is likely to see yet another Indo-Pak face-off on the J&K dispute later this month. While Pakistan is likely to highlight what it describes as human rights violations by India, Swaraj is likely to respond by reiterating that the main problem in the state was Pakistan sponsored terrorism.