Washington– Reaffirming their united stance against terrorism, the Quad foreign ministers have called for those responsible for the deadly Pahalgam terror attack to be brought to justice without delay and urged all nations to fully cooperate with relevant authorities.
In a joint statement issued after their meeting on Tuesday, the ministers said, “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 (Security Council Resolutions), 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.
The meeting, the second Quad ministerial of the year, brought together Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya.
The ministers condemned the April 22, 2025, terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which killed 25 Indian nationals and one Nepali citizen and left several others injured. While the joint statement did not name a specific country, the attack was claimed by The Resistance Front, a proxy of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Before the meeting, Jaishankar said, “India has every right to defend its people against terrorism, and we will exercise that right. We expect our Quad partners to understand and appreciate that.”
The ministers also expressed their anticipation for the upcoming Quad summit, which will be hosted later this year by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attended by President Donald Trump, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
As part of their expanding cooperation, the Quad ministers announced the planned launch of the “Quad Ports of the Future Partnership” in Mumbai later this year.
“To ensure the Quad’s enduring impact,” the ministers stated, “a new, ambitious, and strong agenda focused on four key areas” has been developed. These focus areas are maritime and transnational security, economic prosperity and security, critical and emerging technology, and humanitarian assistance and emergency response.
While the statement did not explicitly name China, it detailed actions that align with Beijing’s regional conduct.
“We remain seriously concerned about the situation in the East China Sea and South China Sea,” the ministers said, citing “unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion,” along with “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.”
China has carried out such actions against countries including the Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea, and Malaysia, although it was not directly named in the statement.
“These actions threaten peace and stability in the region,” the ministers added. “We are seriously concerned by the militarisation of disputed features.”
The Quad also addressed the need for resilient and diversified supply chains for critical minerals. “We are launching today the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative, an ambitious expansion of our partnership to strengthen economic security and collective resilience by collaborating to secure and diversify critical minerals supply chains,” the ministers announced.
To enhance disaster response capabilities—one of the Quad’s original missions—the ministers said the group will hold its first Quad Indo-Pacific Logistics Network field training exercise later this year. The exercise will “strengthen shared airlift capacity and leverage our collective logistics strengths to respond to natural disasters more rapidly and efficiently, providing support for regional partners.”
The ministers also condemned North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and demanded that it comply with United Nations Security Council resolutions.
They expressed “grave concern over North Korea’s malicious cyber activity, including cryptocurrency theft and use of workers abroad to fund North Korea’s unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.” Pyongyang has also reportedly sent fighters to support Russia’s war in Ukraine.
On regional humanitarian concerns, the Quad ministers voiced “deep concern by the worsening crisis in Myanmar and its impact on the region,” urging the military regime and all parties involved “to implement, extend and broaden ceasefire measures.” (Source: IANS)
