Between India-US bilateral dialogue, words that carry Delhi`s weight |
Almost two years after the Uri attack that was mounted from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the retaliatory surgical strikes against terrorist pads in PoK, the US signed off on using New Delhi`s language and used “territory under Pakistan`s control”, and not Pakistan`s “territory” — to describe Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. They also slammed the use of “terrorist proxies”, a description for extremist political groups used by Pakistan`s army in the region.The Indian side also used the term “retribution” for the first time when it came to justice for those behind the Mumbai terror attack in 2008. But, the US stuck to the standard formulation of “to expeditiously bring the perpetrators to justice”, and did not mention retribution — a key theme for the Indian side after the 2016 surgical strikes.Sources said that this “diplomatic formulation” in the joint statement Thursday — agreed at the first-ever Indo-US 2+2 bilateral dialogue — is “new” and “significant”. “This shows their acknowledgement that PoK is not Pakistan`s territory and it`s under its control. A lot of negotiations went in to get this language change in the joint statement, a source said.
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