Washington: Renewing their commitment to work together to fight terrorism, the Quad foreign ministers have demanded that all those responsible for the "reprehensible" Pahalgam attack be immediately brought to justice, and countries concerned cooperate with the authorities.
In a joint statement after their meeting on July 1, they said, "We call for the perpetrators, organizers, and financiers of this reprehensible act to be brought to justice without any delay and urge all UN Member States, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant UNSCRs (Security Council Resolutions), to cooperate actively with all relevant authorities in this regard."
"The Quad unequivocally condemns all acts of terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations, including cross-border terrorism, and renews our commitment to counterterrorism cooperation," the statement said.
External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Foreign Ministers Penny Wong of Australia and Takeshi Iwaya of Japan representing the major democracies of the Indo-Pacific region met for their second ministerial meeting of the year.
They said, "We condemn in the strongest terms the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, on 22 April 2025, which claimed the lives of 25 Indian nationals and one Nepali citizen, while injuring several others."
The statement did not name any country while calling for bringing the perpetrators of the massacre to justice, but the nation was obvious because The Resistance Front, which carried out the attack, is an arm of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is sheltered by Pakistan.
Before the ministers met, Jaishankar said, "India has every right to defend its people against terrorism, and we will exercise that right. We expect our Quad partners to understand and appreciate that," he emphasized.
