Modi, Abe call on Pakistan to bring perpetrators of Mumbai, Pathankot attacks to justice

PM Modi and his, Japanese counterpart Abe, looked forward to strengthening cooperation against terrorist threats from groups including Al-Qaida, ISIS, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lakshar-e-Tayyiba, and their affiliates.

Image tweeted by @MEAIndia

New Delhi: Japanese premier Shinzo Abe on Monday joined Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in condemning the growing threat of terrorism and together called on Pakistan to bring the terrorists who perpetrated the Mumbai attack and Pathankot attack to justice. During the two-day annual India-Japan summit, the two leaders strongly condemned terrorism and the countries that provide safe havens to the terrorists. “They called upon Pakistan to bring to justice the perpetrators of terrorist attacks, including those of November 2008 in Mumbai and January 2016 in Pathankot,” read the India-Japan Vision Statement issued at the end of the two-day annual India-Japan talks. Both the leaders looked forward to strengthening cooperation against terrorist threats from groups including Al-Qaida, ISIS, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lakshar-e-Tayyiba, and their affiliates, it said. The two Prime Ministers condemned in the strongest terms the growing threat of terrorism and its universal reach and called upon all countries to work towards rooting out terrorist safe havens and infrastructure, disrupting terrorist networks and financing channels, and halting cross-border movement of terrorists, the statement read. They underlined the need for all countries to ensure that their territory is not used to launch terrorist attacks on other countries in any manner. They emphasised the need for stronger international partnership in countering terrorism and violent extremism, including through increased sharing of information and intelligence. On November 26, 2008, around 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists who had sailed into Mumbai from Karachi had carried out coordinated attacks in the city killing 166 people and injuring over 300. Pakistan also supported the “non-state actors", who had carried out the January 2-4 terror attack on the Indian Air Force (IAF) base at Pathankot in Punjab. Six terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) crossed over from Pakistan to India and carried out the attack, killing seven security personnel and a civilian before being gunned down. Pakistan has however allowed the Mumbai attack mastermind and Jammat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed to roam freely in the country Recently JuD and FIF, the outfits of Saeed, were also removed from the list of banned organizations after the ordinance proscribing them lapsed and the new government did not extend it.