Allegations by leadership: ‘Strong’ demarche conveyed to Afghan envoy

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has made a “strong” demarche with Afghan envoy over the “irresponsible” and “baseless” allegations made by country’s leadership, and warned that such groundless accusations can vitiate the environment between the countries and “disregard” constructive role being played by Pakistan in facilitating the Afghan peace process.

In a statement on Monday, Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said Pakistan had conveyed its serious concerns to the Afghan side by making a strong demarche with the ambassador of Afghanistan in Islamabad on the recent irresponsible statements and baseless allegations made by the Afghan leadership.

“Pakistan has emphasized that groundless accusations erode trust and vitiate the environment between the two brotherly countries and disregard constructive role being played by Pakistan in facilitating the Afghan peace process,” he added.

He said the Afghan side had been urged to effectively utilise the available forums such as the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS) to address all bilateral issues.

The statement comes following a series of allegations made by the top Afghan leadership including Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and country’s National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib in wake of the recent deadly terrorist attacks in Kabul, accusing Pakistan of supporting the Taliban’s operation inside Afghanistan.

In a recent interview with a foreign media outlet, Ghani accused Pakistan for “operating” an organised system of support for the Taliban.

“The Taliban receive logistics there [Pakistan], their finances are there and recruitment is there [Pakistan]. The names of the various decision-making bodies of the Taliban are Quetta Shura, Miramshah Shura and Peshawar Shura…There is a deep relationship with the state,” the Afghan president claimed.

Afghan National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib, in an address to an event which was shared by the official Twitter account of his office last week, also made similar allegations against Pakistan.

“The Pashtun tribes were not happy with Pakistan…the Pashtuns had revolted, the Baloch are also fighting for their rights and those who left their wealth and livelihood in India [at the time of partition in 1947] came to settle in Pakistan are now called immigrants,” Mohib alleged.

The latest blame-game is also followed by a recent visit by Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed to Kabul, where the top military leadership re-assured Pakistan’s continued support to Afghan led-Afghan-owned peace process based on “mutual consensus of all stakeholders” in their meetings with President Ghani and Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation of Afghanistan Dr Abdullah Abdullah.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021