Quad Ministers Vow Justice For Pahalgam, Condemn Cross-Border Violence

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IANS)-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, urging countries concerned to cooperate with authorities.

In a joint statement after their meeting on July 1, the ministers stated, “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, 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 added.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and 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 condemned “in the strongest terms the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, on April 22, 2025, which claimed the lives of 25 Indian nationals and one Nepali citizen, while injuring several others.”

While the statement did not explicitly name any country when calling for justice for the massacre’s perpetrators, the implied nation was clear, as The Resistance Front, which carried out the attack, is an arm of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, known to be sheltered by Pakistan.

Before the ministers’ meeting, Jaishankar stated, “India has every right to defend its people against terrorism, and we will exercise that right.” He emphasized, “We expect our Quad partners to understand and appreciate that.”

The top diplomats expressed anticipation for the Quad summit, to be hosted later this year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. US President Donald Trump and Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese of Australia and Shigeru Ishiba of Japan are expected to attend.

The ministers announced plans to “launch the Quad Ports of the Future Partnership in Mumbai this year.”

To ensure the “Quad’s enduring impact,” they unveiled “a new, ambitious, and strong agenda focused on four key areas” that will “sharpen the Quad’s ability to leverage our resources to address the region’s most pressing challenges.” These four areas are maritime and transnational security, economic prosperity and security, critical and emerging technology, and humanitarian assistance and emergency response.

Although their joint statement repeatedly spoke of threats to countries in the region from the use of force and coercion, particularly from China, they avoided naming it directly.

“We remain seriously concerned about the situation in the East China Sea and South China Sea,” the statement read, listing various actions including “unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion … dangerous and provocative actions, including interference with offshore resource development, the repeated obstruction of the freedoms of navigation and overflight, and the dangerous maneuvers by military aircraft and coast guard and maritime militia vessels, especially the unsafe use of water cannons and ramming or blocking actions in the South China Sea.”

While China was not mentioned, it has carried out all those actions against the Philippines, Vietnam, and South Korea, and has been involved in disputes with Malaysia over offshore oil drilling.