The United States continued to mount pressure on Pakistan Monday calling upon it on to take “meaningful steps” against terrorism, doubling down on a call earlier from Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo and the visiting Indian foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale for “concerted action”.

“Spoke with Pakistani FM Qureshi to encourage meaningful steps against JeM and other terrorist groups operating from Pakistan,” US national security adviser John Bolton wrote on Twitter about his call with Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, referring to Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Pakistan-based terrorist outfit that claimed responsibility for the suicide attack in Pulwama in Kashmir on February 14 that killed 40 CRPF personnel.

He added: “The FM assured me that Pakistan would deal firmly with all terrorists and will continue steps to deescalate tensions with India.”

Bolton’s tweet followed Pompeo’s meeting with Gokhale, at which they called upon Pakistan to take “concerted action to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure and to deny safe haven to all terrorist groups” operating from its soil.

At a news briefing later, Pompeo acknowledged gingerly to bringing up Indian purchase of crude oil from Venezuela, a top priority currently for the Trump administration’s national security team — the president appears not as engaged on Venezuela as his advisers, despite scripted pronouncements that lack his signature commitment.

This conversation found no mention in readouts of the meeting issued separately by the two sides, and not coordinated as they are most times. “Only because, it was not an issue — the secretary mentioned it briefly and the Indian side responded that Indian state refineries had stopped buying from Venezuela and the private refineries, it seemed apparent, would not risk being alienated from the US financial system,” said a person close to the negotiations.

Bolton’s tweet was seen as a significant boost for India’s case against terrorism emanating from across the border in Pakistan just two days ahead of a UN security council decision on a proposal moved by France, US and UK to designate Masood Azhar, founder of Jaish-e-Mohammad.

India and the United States remain leery of the current Pakistani crackdown on terrorist individuals, groups and their assets in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack.

Islamabad has staged this show before, say skeptics.

Most of those arrested in the previous crackdowns were kept in luxurious accommodations, often at home under “house arrest”, and returned to their routine activities when the world’s attention shifted away.

“The foreign secretary will meet his US counterparts Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale and Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Andrea Thompson later during his visit.

The ministry of external affairs has described the foreign secretary’s visit as part of a “regular high-level dialogue mechanisms to review bilateral relations, exchange views on major foreign policy and security-related developments and coordinate respective positions on issues of common interest”.

First Published: Mar 12, 2019 13:49 IST