After Bilawal, Asif, Qureshi also slams US-India joint statement

• Qureshi says joint statement has "no mention of human rights".
• PTI leader says Pakistanis "hurt" by Biden's meeting with Modi.
• FO terms US-India statement "misleading" and "unwarranted".

ISLAMABAD: After Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday denounced the statement jointly issued by the United States and India over alleged "cross-border terrorism", saying that it had "no mention of the human rights".

In a joint statement on Friday, US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Pakistan to ensure its soil is not being used in "launching terror attacks".

Reacting to the statement termed "unwarranted and misleading" by Foreign Office, Shah said that Pakistanis had been "hurt" by Biden's meeting with Modi, who visited Washington in an apparent bid to further India’s agenda against Islamabad.

The PTI leader's remarks came during a talk with media personnel outside an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad.

Qureshi, a foreign relations veteran who served as a foreign minister twice, regretted that the US-India statement did not have any word on the human rights violations committed by New Delhi.

"No voice has been raised on the oppression against Muslims in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK)," Qureshi said.

He condemned that all human rights organisations remain silent on the matter.

On Friday, Bilawal told parliamentarians that he believed it is “important for Pakistan to stay away from world politics and focus on itself”.

“I don’t believe there is any reason for Pakistan to be insecure about its relationship with the world or its bilateral partnership with America as a result of increasingly close cooperation between the US and India,” the foreign minister said. He added that Pakistan was standing on its own feet yesterday and is still standing today.

In a rebuke to India on including Pakistan’s name in the statement, the foreign minister expressed concern that ever since he took charge and departure of the world from Afghanistan, terrorism has been on the back burner, and Ukraine is the main issue.

“No one is focused on terrorism. It is very easy to add that “there should be work on terrorism” in your statement.”

Earlier, Asif, a member of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz, said that "terrorism entered Pakistan because [the country] had acted as an ally of the United States in the war on terrorism."

The Foreign Office (FO) also termed the joint US-India statement “misleading and unwarranted”, saying that the “reference is contrary to diplomatic norms and has political overtones”.

Joint statement 

In the joint statement, the US president and the Indian PM called for action against extremist groups allegedly based in Pakistan, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.

“They 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,” the 58-point statement issued by the White House read.

Biden and Modi also reiterated the call for concerted action against all UN-listed terrorist groups, including Al-Qaeda, Daesh and Hizbul Mujahideen.

They stressed bringing the perpetrators of attacks, including the bloody 2008 siege of Mumbai and the Pathankot incidents.