4 hours ago
Last Updated:May 01, 2025, 14:34 IST
Jaishankar said he told Marco Rubio that “the perpetrators, backers and planners (of the Pahalgam terrorist attack) must be brought to justice.”
S Jaishankar and Marco Rubio
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a call with Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, has “encouraged India to work with Pakistan to de-escalate tensions" but it is unlikely as India is resolute in its effort to get justice for the victims of the Pahalgam terror strike, senior government officials told CNN-News18.
A statement from Jaishankar on his call with Marco Rubio completely skipped the above-mentioned part of Rubio’s message. Jaishankar in a post on X (formerly Twitter) said that he told Marco Rubio that “the perpetrators, backers and planners (of the Pahalgam terrorist attack) must be brought to justice."
Marco Rubio in his parallel message to Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif repeated the same message. “He (Rubio) encouraged Pakistan to work with India to de-escalate tensions and re-establish direct communications," the US State Department readout on Thursday said.
India and Pakistan have not had any direct communication since the Pathankot air base terror strike in 2016. India then had allowed a team from Pakistan to come to India and investigate matters but the findings of the same were never shared by Islamabad with New Delhi. Moreover, India has not spoken to Pakistan even as it has reached out to all other nine non-permanent members of the UN Security Council over the last few days. Pakistan is among the ten current non-permanent members of the UNSC.
“Pakistan this time is seeking an ‘impartial investigation’ into the Pahalgam terror strike on the same lines and is approaching all countries with this proposition. But India is unlikely to agree to any such proposition given our experience in Pathankot in the past," senior officials told CNN-News18.
At that time, a Five Member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) from Pakistan visited India for four days in March, 2016 to collect, review and document physical evidences and to interview key witnesses and victims, through the NIA, with regard to the Pathankot Airbase terror attack.
Pakistan had constituted a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on 25th February, 2016 under Section 19(I) of its Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, to conduct investigation into an attack on Pathankot Air Force base, in furtherance to a FIR registered at Police Station Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), Gujranwala in Pakistan.
The Pakistan JIT had then also assured India of their full cooperation and promised to execute the Letter Rogatory which had been received by them from India. “But nothing happened on the LR as well," officials say.
Location : First Published:News world Marco Rubio Tells India To ‘Work With Pakistan’, But Govt Stands Firm On Pahalgam Retaliation
