In a statement made following the US-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue on April 11, Pakistan firmly denied the improper reference, calling the accusations “malicious and lacking of legitimacy.”
“It is regrettable that a bilateral cooperation mechanism is being exploited to attack a third nation for political expediency and to divert public attention away from genuine and rising terrorism concerns,” the Foreign Office said in a statement. The allegations made against Pakistan in the statement are vicious and without veracity.”
The statement’s unnecessary mention of non-existent and defunct institutions highlighted both governments’ misdirected counter-terrorism focus.