"It is an affront to the families of the victims that, after ten years, those who planned the Mumbai attack have still not been convicted for their involvement," US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, said on the 10th anniversary of the deadly attacks which took place in Mumbai on 26 November 2008.
Speaking about the “barbaric” attack, Pompeo on Monday, 26 November 2018, called upon Pakistan and other nations to uphold their UN Security Council obligations to implement sanctions against those responsible for the atrocity, including Lashkar-e-Taiba and its affiliates, PTI reported.
Along with this, the Department of State Rewards for Justice (RFJ) Program is offering a new reward for up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of any individual who was involved in planning or facilitating the 2008 Mumbai attack.
In a statement, that was shared by the US Department of State, Pompeo said that the US expressed solidarity with the victims of the deadly attacks, which included six Americans.
The United States, Pompeo said, is committed to seeing that those responsible for the attack face justice, PTI reported.
‘Pak Has a Choice: Cooperate or Be Isolated’
Except for designating Pakistan as a state sponsor of terrorism, the United States is looking at all possible tools at its disposal to convince Islamabad that it is in its interest to crack down on terrorist groups, a senior US official told PTI.
“The focus of the discussions has not been on designating Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism, rather how to use other tools at our disposal to convince Pakistan that it is in its interest to crack down on terrorist groups,” he said.
“Pakistan has a stark choice: Cooperate and enjoy the benefits of close relationship with the US and the rest of the world, or face international isolation if it chooses not to change its behaviour.”The official told PTI
The Trump administration’s displeasure with Pakistan at not cracking down on terrorist groups, seems to have been budding for a while. Just this past week, US President Donald Trump in an interview to Fox News, on Twitter and in interaction with White House reporters accused Pakistan of doing nothing for the US in the fight against terrorism and reiterated that till the time Islamabad changes its behaviour his administration will continue to suspend all assistance to it, PTI reported.
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