ISLAMABAD: Accusing Afghanistan of breaching a recent agreement, Pakistan on Thursday strongly protested and expressed serious concern over the brutal murder of 23 FC men inside the Afghan territory.
The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has admitted to these killings and has sunk to the lowest ebb by circulating the footage of the massacred heads of these FC personnel.TTP leader Mulla Fazullah is based in Afghanistan, a fact known well to the Hamid Karzai government and to the Nato forces, which have a hold over this landlocked country.
Earlier, Pakistan was unsure as exactly where these gruesome beheadings had taken place, but concerned information was passed on to Sartaj Aziz, the Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs, and he took up the issue with Afghan Foreign Minister Zarar Maqbool Osmani. Both are in the Maldives to attend the Saarc ministerial meeting.
Sartaj Aziz reminded Osmani that these killings also breached the agreement made at the Trilateral Summit in Ankara recently, where both the countries had agreed (at the highest level) that they would not only prevent the use of their territory against each other but also take action against the militants engaged in hostile action.
“The adviser urged the Afghan government to take prompt action to apprehend and punish the perpetrators of this heinous and inhumane crime,” the Foreign Office said in a statement adding that the Afghan foreign minister promised to convey this message of concern to the relevant authorities in Afghanistan and revert shortly.
Earlier, the spokesperson at the Foreign Office in a weekly media briefing had clearly said that Pakistan was not concerned with the reported talks between the Afghan Taliban and Afghan government. “This is Afghanistan’s internal matter. How many are participating, what are their names does not concern us. What concerns us is peace and all efforts at peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan. We support that completely,” she said.
SYRIA: Pakistan shrugged aside the impression that it had changed its policy towards Syria, saying there was no need for undue concern, as the government did not want a regime change in any country.
While on Monday, Pakistan clearly called for the formation of a transitional government body (in Syria) with full executive powers, enabling it to take charge of the affairs of the country; on Thursday, however, the spokesperson clarified that the language used in the recent joint statement with Saudi Arabia, was actually what was contained in the Geneva-I Communiqué (the process through which the Syrian government and the opposition is negotiating).
This in itself was a clear contradiction of the government where on the one hand it was clearly stating that it did not want a regime change but the joint statement clearly pointed to one, (regardless that the language was the same as the Geneva-1 Communiqué).
“This is something, which is accepted by Syria as well. There is no change in our position in the sense that since the first Geneva Conference on Syria in June 2012, Syria’s own position has also evolved. This process, which is under the UN auspices, was initially rejected by Syria but later on Syria became a part of that. There have been two rounds of discussions between the representatives of Syrian government and the opposition. They have been discussing a transitional government,” she added.
The spokesperson said that the reason the second round of talks on Syria broke down was whether President Basharul Asad would be in that set-up or not.“The UN again appealed on Wednesday for the resumption of talks .We would like to see an end to violence in Syria. We do not subscribe to the theory of regime change in any country. Essentially, the people of Syria will talk to one another and work out what kind of set-up they will have in future,” she stated.
Saudi Arabia/Iran: The spokesperson said that there was a timeline regarding the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, which had fallen apart. “There were also some other commitments and agreements regarding financing. They have fallen apart; therefore, perhaps we need to renegotiate the timeline as well,” she explained.
Regarding the Iranian threats of hot pursuit to recover their border police, the spokesperson said that Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan had a joint border and sometimes some activities happened in this area from all sides.
“It is in the common interest of all to curb the activities of criminals, drug traffickers, smugglers, human smugglers and terrorists,” she said.The Iranian government has taken up the issue at high level with the visiting Senate chairman in Tehran, but the spokesperson said this was done in the spirit of ‘cooperation’ and not ‘acrimoniously’.
“(In meetings with the Iranian leadership), there was a reference to the historical and religious ties between the two countries by the Iranian president. There was also a desire that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should visit Tehran and that the Joint Economic Commission should also meet. There was an understanding that some elements might be trying to create problems between Pakistan and Iran, and they should be dealt with in a coordinated manner,” said the spokesperson.
India: The spokesperson admitted that the government was aware of the fact that Maulana Azhar, heading a proscribed religious outfit, had addressed a public meeting, but she tried to justify it by saying, “This is one time event. He escaped the scrutiny, and he did it, but I am sure you are aware that his organisation is banned in Pakistan and their activities are monitored.”
But she also pointed out that there was another part of this question where one should ask how Pakistan was feeling about it.
“How Pakistan feels about the very provocative statements made by the Indian Army chief which are coming quite regularly. We would have a position on that but what an individual who belongs to a proscribed entity says should not concern India so much,” she said.
Regarding reports of Mast Gul who escaped the Chirrar Sharif incident and is now part of the Taliban, the spokesperson responded, “If this guy has claimed responsibility for the Peshawar attacks, that means he is a threat to Pakistan and Pakistani people. There are many people from proscribed entities who may have escaped to the area of Afghanistan and Pakistan border to avoid action against them. They keep moving here and there. Many of these individuals and organisations are proscribed and obviously whenever they are in the range, action will be taken. However, many of these people somehow keep popping up in other countries also, so there is a need for more cooperation in that respect”.
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