India, Japan agree to strengthen cooperation against Pak-based terror groups

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe ahead of India- Japan annual summit at Mahatma Mandir, in Gandhinagar on Thursday. (PTI photo)

Aiming for a “zero-tolerance” approach towards terrorism, India and Japan on Thursday agreed to to strengthen cooperation against terror groups including Al-Qaeda, Islamic State, Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and their affiliates.

At the 12th India-Japan Annual Summit in Gandhinagar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe called on Pakistan to book the perpetrators of terror attacks and bring them to justice, including those involved in the 2008 Mumbai and 2016 Pathankot attacks, as per a joint statement issued after the summit.

The two leaders condemned in the “strongest terms” the growing menace of terrorism and violent extremism. “They shared the view that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations is a global scourge that must be forcefully combated through concerted global action in the spirit of ‘zero tolerance’,” the statement said.

The two prime ministers also called upon all countries to work towards rooting out terrorist safe havens and infrastructure, disrupting terrorist networks and financing channels and halting cross-border movement of terrorists, in an apparent reference to Pakistan.

India and Japan are also likely to convene 5th Japan-India consultation on terrorism.  “They looked forward to the convening of the fifth Japan-India Consultation on Terrorism and to strengthening cooperation against terrorist threats from groups, including Al-Qaida, ISIS, JeM, LeT and their affiliates,” the statement added.

Modi and Abe called upon all UN member countries to implement UNSC resolution 1267 and other relevant resolutions dealing with the designation of terrorist entities, the statement said.

Abe and Modi inaugurated the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail project at ceremony near the Sabarmati Railway Station on the Japanese PM’s second day of visit. Modi, who is hosting Abe in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, received the Japanese PM and his wife, Akie, at the airport — a departure from protocol — on Wednesday.

(With PTI inputs)