ISLAMABAD: Foreign minister said Monday that the country remains committed to “eradicating the menace of terrorism”, as the clock ticked down to the end of a temporary ceasefire with Afghanistan.
Both countries last Wednesday announced a halt to weeks of hostilities for the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan, agreeing to a temporary ceasefire until midnight Monday.
But in a message to mark Pakistan Day, a national holiday, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar indicated that the country’s approach to the conflict had not changed.
“Pakistan remains firmly committed to eradicate the menace of terrorism,” he said in a statement. “Pakistan’s actions inside Afghanistan… are directed towards this goal.”
On Sunday, the Taliban government and a medical source said one person was killed by a mortar shell fired by Pakistan in the eastern border province of Kunar.
Afghanistan and Pakistan have been locked in conflict for months over claims from Islamabad that Kabul is harbouring extremists behind cross-border attacks on its territory.
The Taliban authorities deny the claim.
Also read: Pakistan, Afghanistan agree on brief ceasefire
In his own Pakistan Day message, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday said military action inside Afghanistan was “a symbol of our national resolve against terrorism”. “We will not allow any harm to the peace and security of our country,” he added.
The Eid truce came after a Pakistani strike on a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul last Monday, which Afghan authorities said killed more than 400. The Norwegian Refugee Council, an international NGO, said the following day that “hundreds” were killed and injured. Interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani told AFP on Monday that identification of the bodies was still ongoing and new funerals were expected to take place in the coming days. About 50 bodies were buried in a mass grave in Kabul last Wednesday.
On Saturday, the Afghan Health Ministry called on families to contact the forensic medicine department to help identify “dozens of bodies”.
The UN assistance mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on Monday said preliminary figures from their investigation indicated that there were 143 killed and 119 wounded.
But a spokesperson told AFP the toll was likely to increase, with the process slowed by difficulties in identifying some bodies.
According to a UN toll last Tuesday, not taking into account the drug rehabilitation centre strike, at least 76 Afghan civilians have been killed in the fighting since it intensified on February 26.
More than 115,000 people have been displaced in Afghanistan, it added.
“The calls for a ceasefire continue… China has offered to mediate and the Secretary General has said that he would support such a mediation,” the UNAMA spokesperson said.
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