Mike Theiler—AFP
John Bolton says Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has ‘assured me that Pakistan will deal firmly with all terrorists’
Pakistan promises to crack down on militant groups attacking Indian rule over Kashmir, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton said on Monday.
Bolton tweeted that he had spoken with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and “the FM assured me that Pakistan would deal firmly with all terrorists and will continue steps to deescalate tensions with India.”
India has long accused Pakistan of covertly backing attacks by guerrillas in Kashmir. In February, JeM, or the Jaish-e-Mohammed group, claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that was perpetrated by a Kashmiri local and killed 40 Indian paramilitary members, triggering cross-border air raids and a surge in political tension between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
Bolton said that during his talks with Qureshi he’d set out “to encourage meaningful steps against JeM and other terrorist groups operating from Pakistan.”
The latest Pakistani reassurances came as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met in Washington with the Indian foreign secretary, Vijay Gokhale, and urged Pakistan to take “meaningful action against terrorist groups operating on its soil,” Pompeo’s spokesman said.
Pompeo’s spokesman said that during the secretary of state’s talks with Gokhale they “discussed the importance of bringing those responsible for the [February] attack to justice.”