Pak rejects US assertions on terror, nukes

NEW DELHI: A furious Pakistan on Tuesday rejected what it called accusations made in the Trump administration’s first national security strategy, saying “unsubstantiated allegations” in the document trivialised Islamabad’s efforts to fight terrorism.

In President Donald Trump’s first national security strategy, the US had said it would continue to press Pakistan to do more on terrorism and be a “responsible steward” of its nuclear assets.

Pakistan’s foreign office said in a strongly-worded response that the US document “has made certain unsubstantiated allegations towards Pakistan.”

“Pakistan rejects such unfounded accusations that belie facts on ground and trivialise Pakistan’s efforts for fighting terrorism and our unmatched sacrifices to promote peace and stability in the region.”

“It is because of Pakistan’s cooperation with the international community, acknowledged and appreciated by the US leadership, that the Al- Qaeda core was decimated from the region,” the statement said.

It said Pakistan “continues to suffer at the hands of state sponsored terrorism, funded and abetted by our neighbours.”

The self-proclaimed guarantors of peace and phony regional powers are pursuing this nefarious game of expansionism to the

detriment of regional and global peace, it said, adding, it does not fall upon one country to bestow global power status on any state.

It said South Asia’s strategic stability is being undermined by India’s “brutalisation” of people of Kashmir and ceasefire violations targeting innocent civilians.