The Quad foreign ministers have reaffirmed their commitment to collaborating in the fight against terrorism and called for the prompt prosecution of all those involved in the “reprehensible” Pahalgam assault as well as cooperation from the relevant nations.
In a joint statement issued following their meeting on Tuesday, they stated, “We call for the perpetrators, organisers, 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,” stated the statement.
The second ministerial meeting of the year brought together US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar, and foreign ministers Penny Wong of Australia and Takeshi Iwaya of Japan, who represent the major Indo-Pacific democracies.
They stated, “We condemn 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.”
The nation was clearly identified because the Resistance Front, the group that carried out the attack, is an affiliate of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is protected by Pakistan. However, the statement did not specifically mention any nation when it called for the prosecution of those responsible for the massacre.
Jaishankar declared just prior to the ministers’ meeting that “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,” he said.
Top diplomats expressed their excitement for the Quad meeting, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host later this year and which US President Donald Trump, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will attend.
According to the ministers, they “plan to launch the Quad Ports of the Future Partnership in Mumbai this year.”
“To ensure the Quad’s enduring impact,” the ministers put up “a new, ambitious, and strong agenda focused on four key areas” which will “sharpen the Quad’s ability to leverage our resources to address the region’s most pressing challenges.”
The four sectors are emergency response and humanitarian aid, critical and developing technology, economic prosperity and security, and maritime and transnational security.
Although they did not identify it, their joint statement frequently mentioned the dangers China’s use of force and coercion poses to the nations in the region.
“We remain seriously concerned about the situation in the East China Sea and South China Sea,” the statement said. It listed the different acts, 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.”
China was not specifically named, but it has engaged in conflicts with Malaysia over offshore oil drilling and has taken all of those acts against South Korea, Vietnam, and the Philippines.
“These actions threaten peace and stability in the region” , they stated. “We are seriously concerned by the militarisation of disputed features.”
The ministers said it was crucial to diversify sources and voiced concern about supply chain interruptions, especially with regard to certain minerals.
They declared a specific action to address this issue: “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 stated that they intend to hold the first Quad Indo-Pacific Logistics Network field training exercise this year in order to improve the Quad’s capacity to provide help in natural catastrophes, a mission that gave the group its first shape.
It seeks “to strengthen shared airlift capacity and leverage our collective logistics strengths to respond to natural disasters more rapidly and efficiently, providing support for regional partners,” according to the press release.
They called on North Korea to abide by UN Security Council resolutions and put a halt to its missile and nuclear weapons programs.
They additionally voiced “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.”
On behalf of Russia, Pyongyang has dispatched its citizens to battle in Ukraine.
According to the ministers, they were “deeply concerned by the worsening crisis in Myanmar and its impact on the region.”
All parties concerned, including the military administration, were urged “to implement, extend and broaden ceasefire measures.”
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Prior to the regular UNSC presidency change, India exposes Pakistan for its terrorist activities