Islamabad rejects Kabul's allegations

Pakistan on Sunday strongly rejected the baseless allegations of the Afghan Interior Minister that ISI is involved in the assassination of Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was the chairman of the Afghan High Peace Council. A Foreign Ministry's statement issued here said that Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani was a great friend of Pakistan and widely respected in this country.
He had lived in Pakistan for a long time and had many friends here. The so-called evidence given to the Pakistan Embassy in Kabul is actually a confessional statement of an Afghan national Hamidullah Akundzadeh, the alleged mastermind of the assassination. The concerned authority will work upon this piece of information. The statement further said Afghan Interior Minister did not highlight the fact that the assassin and his handler were roaming around in Kandahar and Kabul for quite some time. Also, the Afghan Interior Minister did not say that the assassin had been four days in the guest house of the High Peace Council managed by Afghans close to Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani. The assassin was also apparently not body searched before the meeting. These facts are also part of the confession handed over to the Embassy by the Afghan intelligence, it added.
The Afghan Interior Minister's statement is all the more regrettable as Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had himself offered co-operation in the investigation, during his visit to Kabul for condolences with Prof. Rabbani's family and the Afghan people and Government, the statement said.
It said, instead of making such irresponsible statements, those in positions of authority in Kabul, should seriously deliberate as to why all those Afghans who are favourably disposed towards peace and towards Pakistan are systematically being removed from the scene and killed.
There is a need to take stock of the direction taken by Afghan Intelligence and security agencies. Pakistan has unequivocally condemned the act of terrorism that led to the Shahadat of Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani. Pakistan reiterates its commitment to peace and stability as well as to mutual respect, it concluded.-PR