US has foolishly given $33 billion to Pakistan, got lies in return: Donald Trump

The country is reported to have called an emergency meeting between the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, after Trump's first tweet of the year.

In India, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao also commented on the developments, saying

"congrats to POTUS for calling Terroristan's bluff & signalling resolve to end pak's deceit. dear RahulG, here are results of diplomacy of PM @narendramodi ji. when will you see Pak "drama" instead of targeting Indian army. Are you rushing Aiyers to hug & console Pak over the snub?"

Currently, there have been no official statements from representatives of the Government of India itself.

Pakistan has been under the scanner on the international front. Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj targeted Pakistan on similar lines.

Swaraj criticised Pakistan and its role in harbouring known terrorist organizations in the United Nations General Assembly meet in September. She stated that while India has created institutions like IITs and IIMs, Pakistan has built LeT, Hizbul Mujahideen and the Haqqani Network.

She has recently ruled out any possibility any India-Pakistan cricket matches, pointing the 800 border violations by Pakistan this year. The mistreatment of imprisoned Indian citizen Kulbhushan Jadhav's relatives by the Pakistani authorities also did not help the relations between the two countries.

Earlier in October, India and the United States asked Pakistan to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure operating from its soil, asserting that terror havens inside that country would not be tolerated.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, after holding wide-ranging talks, said Islamabad needed to take concrete action against terror groups to ensure peace and security in the region, particularly in Afghanistan.

Tillerson said he had asked the Pakistani leadership to take action against terror groups and said an enhancement in their capabilities may pose a threat to the government in Islamabad.

"Terror havens will not be tolerated," Tillerson said at a joint press conference with Swaraj.

India and the United States today asked Pakistan to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure operating from its soil, asserting that terror havens inside that country would not be tolerated.

Tillerson said he had asked the Pakistani leadership to take action against terror groups and said an enhancement in their capabilities may pose a threat to the government in Islamabad.

"Terror havens will not be tolerated," Tillerson said at a joint press conference here with Swaraj.

In November, the US had strongly condemned release of the Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed by Pakistan and had demanded his immediate re-arrest and prosecution, warning that there would be "repercussions" for bilateral ties if Islamabad fails to take "decisive action" against the JuD chief.

Saeed, who carries a USD 10 million American bounty on his head for terror activities, walked free after the Pakistan government decided against detaining him further in any other case.

In his new South Asia Policy in August, Trump had called for tougher measure against Pakistan if it fails to cooperate with the US in its fight against terrorism.

"We can no longer be silent about Pakistan's safe havens for terrorist organisations, the Taliban, and other groups that pose a threat to the region and beyond. Pakistan has much to gain from partnering with our effort in Afghanistan. It has much to lose by continuing to harbor criminals and terrorists," Trump had said in his South Asia Policy speech.

Noting that in the past, Pakistan has been a valued partner, Trump had accused it of providing shelter to the same organisations that try every single day to kill Americans.

"We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting.But that will have to change, and that will change immediately," Trump had said.

"No partnership can survive a country's harboring of militants and terrorists who target US service members and officials.It is time for Pakistan to demonstrate its commitment to civilisation, order, and to peace," he had said.

Pakistan has repeatedly denied that there are any terrorist safe havens inside its territory. Both its officials in Islamabad and inside the United Nations in New York assert that there are no terrorist safe havens.

However, the top American leadership insists that there has been no change in Pakistani behaviour on this front that that it is fast running out of patience.

In December, the Pentagon warned Pakistan of unilateral action if Islamabad did not act.

In a surprise visit to Afghanistan before Christmas, US Vice President Mike Pence had issued a stern warning to Pakistan, for which using non-state actors against its two neighbours - India and Afghanistan - has been part of its national security policy.

"For too long Pakistan has provided safe haven to the Taliban and many terrorist organisations, but those days are over," Pence told American troops at the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan where he made an unannounced trip on December 21.

(With inputs from PTI)