Hegseth extends Rajnath Singh 'strong support' on Pahalgam terrorist attack

Washington, May 2 (IANS) US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth on Thursday extended his "strong support" for India on a call with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh over the Pahalgam terrorist attack.

Secretary Hegseth joined a growing number of US leaders who have called their counterparts in India in the aftermath of the attack that left 26 people dead on April 22.

US President Donald Trump had called Prime Minister Narendra Modi within hours of the attack and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Wednesday.

"Today, I spoke with Indian Defence Minister @rajnathsingh to personally extend my deepest condolences for the loss of life in the heinous terrorist attack last week."

"I offered my strong support. We stand with India and its great people."

Unlike Secretary Rubio, Secretary Hegseth did not call for de-escalation of tensions in the region in anticipation of an Indian retaliatory military response against Pakistan, which is in the crosshairs as "backers" of the terrorist group that has claimed responsibility for the attack, and which is also home to most of terrorist groups that have targeted India, such as Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and others.

In a statement released earlier, the Ministry of Defence said the Defence Minister Singh told his American counterpart that "Pakistan has a history of supporting, training and funding terrorist organisations".

"Pakistan has been exposed as a rogue state, fuelling global terrorism, and destabilising the region. The world can no longer turn a blind eye to terrorism," Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said to Secretary Hegseth.

He added, according to the statement, that it is important for the global community to explicitly and unequivocally condemn and call out such heinous acts of terrorism.

India has vowed to punish both the perpetrators of the Pahalgam attack and their backers, which is widely taken to mean Pakistan.

Prime Minister Modi has left it to the military to decide the timing, form and extent of the retaliatory action.

In separate calls to Pakistan's Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Secretary Rubio on Wednesday also urged the two sides to "de-escalate tensions, re-establish direct communications, and maintain peace and security in South Asia".

--IANS

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